Ventnor and Isle of Wight cricket suffered a sad loss last August with the passing of John Hilsum BEM, who was the driving force behind so much of Ventnor’s rise to Premier League status and to the development of Newclose County Cricket Ground on the outskirts of Newport.
Ventnor’s pavilion at Steephill was renamed in honour of John last weekend and hundreds of his cricketing friends and families turned out at a special dedication ceremony at the ground before watching an enjoyable 30-over Sunday friendly between the island club and East Meon.
The unlucky losers in 'reverse raffle' organised by Ventnor captain Rob Snell are pictured in front of the John Hilsum Pavilion.  A substantial amount was raised for charity.

Ryde’s push for Hampshire League honours has hit a double blip.
Successive defeats by Hook & Newnham Basics II and Hythe & Dibden dropped the islanders’ four places in the County Division 1 log.
And put massive emphasis on the outcome of today’s SAT rain-threatened visit to Longparish and the August 5 meet-up with Portsmouth & Southsea.
Ryde looked to be running away with it a fortnight ago, but a two-wicket defeat by Hythe at Jones Lane (after losing to Hook) are serious setbacks to their aspirations.
It looked as though Hythe might make easy work of Ryde’s 205 when Matt Young (27) and Inam Agam (36) opened up with a 62-run start.
It was a different ball game with Hythe 105-5, but Bath University ace Zac Millar, pictured, produced a match winning 63 not out, his stand with Matt Howe (25) putting the Watersiders back in the driving seat.
Ryde’s stutter has allowed pre-season favourites Portsmouth & Southsea to break ten points clear of Longparish at the top, with high scoring Lymington II third.
P & S reclaimed top spot with a three-wicket win at Bishops Waltham – a victory which owed much to Jack Peach (35) and Chris Turrell (29), who got the visitors home after a late wobble had threatened to damage their chances.
Bishops’ built their 200-9 around Don Quincey (57) and Sam Medhurst (30), whose three wicket spell dropped Southsea from the comforts of 150-4 (Shaun Briggs 41).
Promoted each of the past two seasons, Longparish will relish their prospects of another upgrade if they emerge unscathed from Ryde’s scheduled visit.
They were in holiday mood, taking their overnight camping tents to Steephill, where they beat depleted Ventnor II by nine wickets in a match that was done and dusted inside 30 overs.
Like many clubs, Ventnor are struggling to field sides these days and it was little surprise when Longparish bundled them out for a meagre 73, with Jack Levy and Matt Jackman sharing six of the wickets.
Will de Cani’s unbeaten 49, which completed formalities, took his season’s run tally to 545 – and to within sight of Ben Wadmore’s 631 aggregate for Ryde.
On paper, Longparish don’t appear to have a terribly taxing run-in, but the Test Valley club are all too conscious that mid-table Shrewton thrashed them earlier this summer, so are taking nothing for granted.
Lymington II ran amok on Sarisbury Athletic’s compact Allotment Road ground, smashing their hosts for 379-4 before running out enormous 304-run winners.
Australian Billy Quigley, left, led the run romp with two sixes and 14 fours in his 114 which, with Tom Atkins (63) alongside, saw Lymington to 227-2.
The dispirited Sarisbury attack was then taken to the proverbial cleaners as former Hampshire Academy prospect Felix Ambrose literally destroyed them with 91 off 48 balls – with six maximums and another seven fours.  Josh Royan (45) compounded the agony.
Kieron Moors (6-37) and Trevor Phillips (3-35) bowled Sarisbury into total submission at 75 all out.
With three defeats in ten, Ropley need a winning last third if they are to break into the top three – but a Jack Ireland inspired five-wicket victory over Shrewton was a start.
Dan Bingley (56) enabled the Shrews to recover from 136-5 (Martin Peters 3-30) to post 207-8 – a total Ropley chased down, thanks initially to some silky shot selection from Jimmy Hawkings (30).
Ropley wobbled at 72-3, but Ireland’s forceful 67 not out got them home.
Jack Robson’s 85 was a match winner for Hook & Newnham Basics II, who checked OTs & Romsey’s recent surge with a five-wicket win at the KGV.   Gus Flack and Mike Trodd earlier hit fifties in OTs’ 216.
The season can’t end quick enough for Rowledge II, who have been out of their depth in County 1 since the start.
Their tenth defeat in 11 outings came after James Burridge (77) and Kevin Neave (50) had guided visiting St Cross Symondians III to 228-6 and the seasoned Alan Whitman had taken 5-50 to reduce the R’s to 158.
Fareham & Crofton’s wins are seldom without drama, so chasing down a modest United Services total of 172 (Ben White 4-7) eight down had a few finger nails being gnawed.
Tom Kent (45) was a steadying influence, but it needed Dan Reader to make a key 33 and get Fareham home.

He’s believed to be Hampshire’s oldest surviving cricketer – so it’s no surprise Brian Price will be celebrating his 80th birthday this weekend … donning his whites and playing for Burley !
Instead of putting his feet up at home, Brian will be turning out, as he always does, for Burley second team in a Regional South West Division 3 game against Ellingham thirds.
He’s been playing a staggering 65 seasons or more at the quaint New Forest club, where cows and horses frequently wander on to the outfield and graze at square-leg or extra-cover when the cricket is going on.
Price, who will have a special birthday cake awaiting him at tea-time tomorrow, has taken over 2,000 wickets and scored nearly 20,000 runs since starting his career in 1951 at the age of 14 years.
He explained: “I played all my early cricket for West Hants Water Company in the Bournemouth League.
“With the club’s ground under threat of closure, my two sons David and Mark and myself moved to Burley in the early 1980s and have played there ever since.
“Cricket plays a major part in my life and I enjoy it as much as I ever did and hope to do so for a while yet.
“Burley is a smashing little club, real grass roots stuff and a great place to play.”

Ryde and Portsmouth & Southsea share the Hampshire League, County Division One leadership with 197 points each going into today’s round 11 matches.
Pre-season favourites P & S took advantage of Ryde’s unexpected high scoring blip against Hook & Newnham Basics to move joint top.
Ryde were optimistic about nailing a ninth win in ten when Josh Procter, with a fiery 68 (three sixes and ten fours) off 49 balls and Ben Wadmore (67) eased them to 278-9.
But Hook gave chase and on the back of knocks by teenager Liam Doran (70), pictured, Ben Allnutt (53) and Harry Warner (39) got in by three wickets with ten balls to spare.
Portsmouth & Southsea, whose August 5 showdown with Ryde could decide the title, trimmed fading Ropley by 71 runs.
They were in the driving seat once they posted 265-8 (Steve Clements 60) and once Kieron Dunstan (4-41) had removed four of Ropley’s top six, the outcome was virtually assured.  Ropley, now in sixth spot, were dismissed of 194.
Longparish, who also have Ryde on their upcoming fixture list, brushed aside Fareham & Crofton, whose Australian teen all-rounder Reece Abrams is sidelined with a broken hand.
Much hinged on Tom Kent (26) for Fareham, but once he went the innings folded to 147 all out, with James Bevan and Harry Martin sharing six of the scalps.
Will de Cani’s unbeaten 67 saw Longparish home – something that Fareham also achieved, having got lost and ended up at Fleet on their way back !
Shrewton are languishing in the bottom half of CD1, but they are always liable to produce a surprise result – as both Longparish and Lymington II have found in recent weeks.
They crushed fourth placed Lymington by eight wickets, chasing down 201.
OTs & Romsey are climbing the frame and moved into fifth spot after beating New Milton II by five wickets.
But they will want to eradicate the 49 extras (33 wides) they conceded and which, but for Steve Watts’ 55, would have top scored in Milton’s 208.
Steve Smith had a splendid match for OTR, taking 4-32 before scoring 55 as his side chased down the target, Gus Flack (45) and Colin Morris (38) playing their roles.
An unbroken match winning stand of 126 between man-of-the-match Hakin Peruzi and Kiwi Tarin Mason hauled Hythe & Dibden out of the mire and set up a five-wicket win over Ventnor II at Steephill.
Hythe, who have beaten several other clubs to the signature of former Bath ace Zach Millar, were on the run at 85-5 when the pair came together.
But they turned the tide in style, with Peruzi hitting 89 not out (having earlier taken 3-25) and Mason an unbeaten 42. 
Martin Blackman (88) rescued Ventnor II from a desperate 85-7 and helped the hosts to 208.
United Services remain in serious relegation trouble after Bishops Waltham inflicted their eighth defeat in nine outings. 
Only Sarisbury Athletic, beaten by six wickets by St Cross Symondians III, and Rowledge II lie beneath them in the log.
US crashed to 22-4 and later 59-5 replying to Waltham’s 249-7, leaving Gary Hounsome (68), Matt Easton (38) and the bottom order far too much to do.  They were 213 all out.
Earlier, Dom Quincey (65) and Phil Baldock (44) guided BW to 132-2 but a middle-order wobble needed a repair job from Sam Medhurst (42) and Harry Barrett (32).
Tom Fay (61) top scored as St Cross chased down Sarisbury Athletic’s 204 (Chris Mottola 47), while Buridge lifted themselves out of immediate trouble with a six-wicket win over seemingly doomed Rowledge.

The father and son combination of Simon and Zac Williams, pictured above, are dominating Hampshire League North West Division 3 cricket with promotion chasing Trojans.
Williams father is the Division's leading run scorer, with teenage son Zac's 17 wicket haul the highest individual tally at the halfway point of the season.
Until now, Simon has spent his entire career playing Southern League cricket at Stoneham Lane, so it's no real surprise he's dominating bowling attacks in the HL's lower echelons.
In the past month, he's rattled off scores of 161, 93, and 66 before making 150 against Dinton, who suffered their first defeat of the season. His early July run tally stands at a cool 594.

Parley cricketer Sam Collins celebrated his maiden Minor Counties Championship century in Dorset's six-wicket win over Herefordshire this week. 
Collins hit 20 boundaries in his 129, sharing a 158-run partnership with Bournemouth's Chris Park (83) and, for good measure, scored another 28 in the second innings as Dorset romped to a convincing victory.
Collins was back playing for Parley against Basingstoke & North Hants III today - the East Dorset languishing in eighth place in County 2, despite having won six of its eight games to date.

Will de Cani may not   rank his unbeaten 101 against Bishop’s Waltham too highly among the nine Hampshire League centuries he has made for Longparish in the past five years.
But his latest hundred did have a special significance.
It coincided with celebrations of a different kind – the likeable 21-year old attaining a First in Town Planning at the end of a three-year degree course at Cardiff University.
News of de Cani’s success, both on and off the field, will be well received in the Test Valley as the opener has remained loyal to the village club throughout his relatively embryo career.
A lot of players might have sought pastures new when Longparish slipped down the HCL rungs, but instead of switching his talents elsewhere, he stayed put to play a lead role in the club’s equally rapid rise back through the County Divisions.
That ninth hundred – his second of the season – secured an eight-wicket win for Longparish over Bishop’s Waltham and eased the promoted village club into a potentially challenging fifth spot, 24 points adrift of Ryde, who head north in the coming weeks.
Bishop’s managed only 154 against Longparish – de Cani’s follow-up ton taking his season’s run tally to 429.
In all, De Cani has scored a mere 4,178 runs for Longparish – with 28 or more scores of 50-plus amongst the tally.
Ryde continued their upward march with a comfortable 118-run win over lowly New Milton II – but for once it wasn’t top gun Ben Wadmore who led the way.
Wadmore was among those back in the Hardings Shute pavilion at 45-3 when Ben Gregory (51) and Tom Morgan (27 not out) wrestled the initiative away from the junior Green & Golds and eased the islanders to 206-9, the innings ending with three run outs.
Northwood’s Ashley Goldsmith had a decent debut for Ryde, taking 4-27, having made 28 at the top of the Ryde order.
Ryde took an eight-point lead over Lymington II into today’s visit to the island by Hook & Newnham Basics II.
Hook will cross the Solent in an optimistic mood after an unbeaten 90 by Kevin Light swept them to a six-wicket win over Ventnor II, who tumbled from a promising 141-2 to 213 all out at the KGV.
Charlie Sammons (43), Martin Blackman (41) and John Buckman (40) eased Ventnor into a decent position, but that collapse cost them dear
Lymington II stepped up their promotion challenge with a crushing nine-wicket win over St Cross Symondians III, who were shot out for a dismal 36 at the Sports Ground.
Not one St Cross batsman managed double figures as Kieran Moors pictured (5-11) and Billy Quigley (3-6) sliced through the visitors.
Lymington skipper Oli Kelly said: “The opening bowlers bowled superbly well (which their figures attest) and our catching was red hot.
“How ironic, we dropped seven catches the previous week against Portsmouth & Southsea.
“It was swing bowling and exceptional discipline which brought about the wickets”
Drew Robinson, who made 26 of the 37 runs Lymington required, took four catches at second slip.  Billy Quigley knocked the tail over.
Matt Benfield clouted 112 (one six and 14 fours) as Portsmouth & Southsea went on a 332-8 run spree against Shrewton, whom they then dismissed for 152 (Kieron Dunstan 4-43).
P & S face a key test against fourth placed Ropley today – the Watercress side enjoying a comfortable six-wicket win over United Services at Burnaby Road.
Seb Newens and Ed Stennett shared six scalps as US made 139 (Shashi Jayasinghe 42) – a total Ropley knocked off with some comfort.
Ben White smacked a six off the penultimate ball of the match to give Fareham & Crofton a thrilling one-wicket win at Jones Lane and check Hythe & Dibden’s recent revival.
Initially, prospects for the promoted Waterside club didn’t look terribly promising after a succession of early season defeats, but wins over Shrewton, Ropley and Bishop’s Waltham in recent weeks steered Hythe into a comfortable mid-table position.
A total of 212 (Matt Young 44) was always likely to test a young and relatively inexperienced Fareham side, which got itself into predictable trouble at 40-3, recovered, but then sank further into the mire at 158-7.
Aussie teen Reece Abrams broke his hand spilling a catch – but, batting virtually one handed for his 59, underlined his Crocodile Dundee spirit which galvanised Fareham’s lower-order, none more so than emerging all-rounder Ben White, whose 36 not out included that match winning six.
A sixth win in seven consolidated seventh spot for Fareham, who lie just below OTs & Romsey II, who ran up 308 before inflicting a 157-run defeat on relegation bound Rowledge II (151).
The County 1 basement derby between Burridge and Sarisbury Athletic seconds produced a welter of over 500 runs, a century on either side – and, significantly, a 66-run win for the hosts.
Cam White’s career best 150 piloted Burridge to 291-7, a total beyond Sarisbury Athletic, whose 225-4 response contained an unbeaten 104 by Toby Mitcheson, who spent the entire 100 overs on the field having kept wicket previously.