Rural setting for T20 tournament.
The Isle of Wight’s top club cricketers are earmarked to play in a lucrative T10 format competition as part of the Isles of Scilly Grand Festival of Sport this summer.
They are among eight teams pencilled in for a two-day mini Island Games tournament over the Spring Bank holiday weekend in late May.
Cricket Vectis, as the island team will be known, will tackle the Scilly hosts, in addition to a Channel Islands Past & Present team, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, the Isle of Man, Orkney & Shetland, and Canvey Island.
The white ball round-robin tournament, played in coloured pyjama kit, will begin on Sunday morning May 26, with the final around tea-time on the Monday.
All the matches will be televised live on Scilly TV.
All eight teams will stay in plush accommodation in Hugh Town and St Mary’s, with a celebrity black tie dinner hosted by the Duchy of Cornwall taking place on the Sunday evening.
Ventnor all-rounder Rob Snell [pictured left by Dave Reynolds] is named as Vectis captain, with elder brother Steve Snell (Somerset’s Academy coach) and top ECB coach Mark Garaway, director of cricket at Millfield, heading a top drawer management back-up.
“I’m really thrilled at this,” said Snell. “I didn’t realise they even played cricket on the Scilly Isles, but with substantial prize money and an innovative T10 format, it promises to be quite something.”
“The Isle of Man has a decent eight-team league, the combined Channel Islands side will be good and Canvey Island are bristling with Essex Premier League standard players.”
Jeremy Frith, who led Sparsholt to the SPL2 title last season, could turn out for the Channel Islands team, which could include veterans Richard Headington, Gordon Irish and Lee Savident, the Burridge all-rounder.
Matches are ten overs per side, a maximum of two per bowler and must be finished inside 90 minutes.
Elite
Ryde, Shanklin and Ventnor are expected to provide the nucleus of the 13-man Vectis squad, which will probably include Tom Friend, who has joined Bashley (Rydal) for the upcoming season.
Veteran Ryde umpire George Wickens has been chosen as part of an elite group of tournament officials.
The T10 umpires will be attired in an all-pink outfit so as not to clash with any of the participating team colours.
Rob Snell doesn’t only have the team captaincy to worry about.
“I’ve got to work out the logistics of us getting to the Isles of Scilly, which is far from straightforward,” he confessed.
“I expect we’ll go there in a light plane from Exeter, but it’s a fair old hike getting to the West Country in the first place, especially after we’ve all played a Saturday league game locally.
“We’re all planning to bring forward the start time of our league games to ten o’clock, so we can be on the road by tea-time.”
One visiting mainland club who are unlikely to relish an early start time on the island are Rowledge, who are due to play Ventnor at Steephill on Saturday May 25.
“It looks like they’ll be coming across on the milk boat,” chuckled Snell.
Conveniently, Ryde and Shanklin have Hampshire League matches on the mainland.
Stop press: Vectis hope Ventnor-raised Warwickshire batsman Adam Hose is given the all-clear by Paul Farbrace to play in the Scilly Isles T10.
They are among eight teams pencilled in for a two-day mini Island Games tournament over the Spring Bank holiday weekend in late May.
Cricket Vectis, as the island team will be known, will tackle the Scilly hosts, in addition to a Channel Islands Past & Present team, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, the Isle of Man, Orkney & Shetland, and Canvey Island.
The white ball round-robin tournament, played in coloured pyjama kit, will begin on Sunday morning May 26, with the final around tea-time on the Monday.
All the matches will be televised live on Scilly TV.
All eight teams will stay in plush accommodation in Hugh Town and St Mary’s, with a celebrity black tie dinner hosted by the Duchy of Cornwall taking place on the Sunday evening.
Ventnor all-rounder Rob Snell [pictured left by Dave Reynolds] is named as Vectis captain, with elder brother Steve Snell (Somerset’s Academy coach) and top ECB coach Mark Garaway, director of cricket at Millfield, heading a top drawer management back-up.
“I’m really thrilled at this,” said Snell. “I didn’t realise they even played cricket on the Scilly Isles, but with substantial prize money and an innovative T10 format, it promises to be quite something.”
“The Isle of Man has a decent eight-team league, the combined Channel Islands side will be good and Canvey Island are bristling with Essex Premier League standard players.”
Jeremy Frith, who led Sparsholt to the SPL2 title last season, could turn out for the Channel Islands team, which could include veterans Richard Headington, Gordon Irish and Lee Savident, the Burridge all-rounder.
Matches are ten overs per side, a maximum of two per bowler and must be finished inside 90 minutes.
Elite
Ryde, Shanklin and Ventnor are expected to provide the nucleus of the 13-man Vectis squad, which will probably include Tom Friend, who has joined Bashley (Rydal) for the upcoming season.
Veteran Ryde umpire George Wickens has been chosen as part of an elite group of tournament officials.
The T10 umpires will be attired in an all-pink outfit so as not to clash with any of the participating team colours.
Rob Snell doesn’t only have the team captaincy to worry about.
“I’ve got to work out the logistics of us getting to the Isles of Scilly, which is far from straightforward,” he confessed.
“I expect we’ll go there in a light plane from Exeter, but it’s a fair old hike getting to the West Country in the first place, especially after we’ve all played a Saturday league game locally.
“We’re all planning to bring forward the start time of our league games to ten o’clock, so we can be on the road by tea-time.”
One visiting mainland club who are unlikely to relish an early start time on the island are Rowledge, who are due to play Ventnor at Steephill on Saturday May 25.
“It looks like they’ll be coming across on the milk boat,” chuckled Snell.
Conveniently, Ryde and Shanklin have Hampshire League matches on the mainland.
Stop press: Vectis hope Ventnor-raised Warwickshire batsman Adam Hose is given the all-clear by Paul Farbrace to play in the Scilly Isles T10.
