Isle of Man Cricket Association’s Premiership and Division One seasons swung into life at the weekend.
After the Forrester, Cain and junior competitions got underway the previous week, the top two leagues began on Saturday and Sunday.
The Premiership clash involving Crosby versus Peel and St John’s at a wet and murky Memorial Playing Fields on Saturday proved a thriller, with the home side winning by a single run.
The visitors won the toss and elected to field first, with Chris Langford notching 46 runs from 67 balls to top score for the hosts, ably assisted by Carl Hartmann with 28 as Crosby ended their 40 overs with 155 for 9.
Peel’s reply didn’t get off to the best of starts as Eddie Beard and Ollie Webster fell early to leave the score at 10 for 2, quickly followed by the wicket of Peter Lewis to leave them floundering 14 for 3.
The visitors briefly rallied until Alex Williamson, Josh Mills and Akkie Van Den Berg all fell in quick succession to leave the score at 52 for 6.
Neil Jacobs led a spirited response with a knock of 47 off 44 balls before he and Keiran Cawte both fell to leave the match on a knife edge at 137 for 8.
Russ Miller pushed the away side towards their target but was bowled by Jacob Butler on 153 for 9 and then Ben Haworth agonisingly fell just shy as he too was bowled by Butler and Peel were dismissed for 154, with Crosby winning by only one run.
Unfortunately, the Division One clash between Castletown and Crosby didn’t go ahead as planned.
On Sunday,. Valkyres got the better of Ramsey at Mullen-e-Cloie in the Premiership thanks largely to a half-century from Michael Lowe as his 50 runs from 54 balls helped the hosts set a target of 159 all out in 38.5 overs.
Rob Pooley and Luke Ward fell early doors during the northerners’ reply, quickly followed by Tom Moffatt to leave the visitors reeling at 19-3. Adam Peel. Will Ward, Grant Atchison and James Harrison also fell but Brandon Atchison steadied the ship slightly with a knock of 28 from 19 balls to give Ramsey some hope.
But once he was removed at 79 for 9, Robert Webber fell for 13 runs as the northerners were dismissed for 114 in 28.5 overs.
Benjamin Bennett-Naish was the star of the show in Division One as he scored 84 runs to help Ramsey get the better of Cronkbourne at Ramsey Grammar School.
His effort included eight fours and three sixes as he put the Tromode side to the sword, with Tom Ward and Aaron Hempsall chipping in with 14 and 11 runs respectively.
Sam Ashworth top-scored for the visitors with 14 as he finished not out but, with Josh Clough the only other Cronkbourne player to hit double figures with 11, Ramsey won by 93 runs with a score of 149 for 8.
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