Ben Woodhouse uses his feet to crack a straight six at Steephill [all photos by Dave Reynolds]
Ben Woodhouse has celebrated his maiden Southern Premier League century - 17 seasons after making his competitive Ventnor debut against Purbrook back in May 2028.
It wasn't any old hundred either, Woodhouse making a rare appearance at the top of the order and scoring exactly 100 of the total Ventnor needed to overhaul Totton & Eling's 180.
His innings contained four sixes and 13 fours, Woodhouse seeing eight partners depart as a comfortable 70-1 (Dinesh Thimodya 27) became 77-5 and later 116-6.
Ideally the 33-year old captain/wicketkeeper, who bats well down the order these days (arguably too low), would have liked to see the job through but he became a late victim of Brighton Mugochi with Ventnor 172-8 and still nine runs short. But Ollie Morgan and Tom Southcott navigated a tense last 25 balls to get the islanders across the line.
Earlier, George Watts (3-11) and Thimodya (3-16) bowled tight spells to keep Totton to 180, Josh Taylor (29), Mugochi (26) and Billy Blyghton (25) top scoring.
It wasn't any old hundred either, Woodhouse making a rare appearance at the top of the order and scoring exactly 100 of the total Ventnor needed to overhaul Totton & Eling's 180.
His innings contained four sixes and 13 fours, Woodhouse seeing eight partners depart as a comfortable 70-1 (Dinesh Thimodya 27) became 77-5 and later 116-6.
Ideally the 33-year old captain/wicketkeeper, who bats well down the order these days (arguably too low), would have liked to see the job through but he became a late victim of Brighton Mugochi with Ventnor 172-8 and still nine runs short. But Ollie Morgan and Tom Southcott navigated a tense last 25 balls to get the islanders across the line.
Earlier, George Watts (3-11) and Thimodya (3-16) bowled tight spells to keep Totton to 180, Josh Taylor (29), Mugochi (26) and Billy Blyghton (25) top scoring.
 |  Left, an edge off Dan Cox goes to Hugh Calloway at slip - but does he catch it ? [Answers on a postcard ...]. Above, Sam Mills drives through the covers. |
