Anthony Alleyne was unquestionably the star of Ventnor’s victory at Lapstone Park on Saturday, Fair Oak slipping to fourth place in Southern Premier Division 2 as a consequence of their second defeat of the season.

The Barbadian all-rounder, who has 30 first-class and 17 List A matches under his belt, took 3-19 and then made an unbeaten 51 as the Islanders overtook the Fair Oak total of 118 all out with five wickets and four overs still in the tank.

After the loss of key early wickets, the normally free-flowing Fair Oak batsmen plodded along, with only skipper Charlie Gwynn (26) and Harry Reed (21) passing twenty. Zach Wells took 3-22 as the home innings petered out with only three balls of the 40-over allocation unused.

Rob Snell and Mark Fletcher gave Ventnor a solid start in reply with an opening stand of 36. Alleyne then took over, and despite Rhys Oxley’s useful spell of 3-26 duly took his side to victory with four overs to spare. Unsung Fair Oak keeper Rich Featherstone chalked up a run-out, a stumping and a catch, but still finished on the losing side in a match that will go down as a “bad day at the office”.

An excellent team performance saw Fair Oak’s 2nd XI to a seventh successive win in Hampshire County 3 South on the astroturf at United Services Portsmouth’s Burnaby Road ground. #

The servicemen were bowled out for 199, Connor Crofts making 60, Sesh Nadathur 40 and Vineet Vijpayee 34 on a fast, true plastic strip with tight boundaries and a lightning-fast outfield. Tom Clark Jr was Oaks’ most successful bowler, taking 3-18, while Phil Smith bagged 2-37.

After the break Monty McKenzie (35) and Clark (27) gave Oaks a brisk start. Wickets fell regularly, but not regularly enough for United Services. Smith (22) and Matt White (25) kept things ticking over in mid-innings, and a flurry of shots from Tom Merrill (19no) and James Featherstone (26no) took Fair Oak to a winning 200-6 with nearly four overs to spare.

Top-drawer fielding from both sides brought about two run-outs in each innings.

In Division 5 Central Fair Oak III were undone by Nick Creal’s 6.2 over spell of four wickets for five runs at home to Burridge III.

Only skipper James Castle (48) and Seb Chambers (28) prospered with the bat, Ben Thomas (3-5) combining with Creal to bowl Oaks out for 126.

Chambers (2-27) and spin prospect Lewis Goodyear (2-38) gave Oaks a sniff of victory as Burridge declined to 52-4. But Finn Coleman (34no) and Tom Perry (23) then made a decisive contribution with the bat to take Burridge to 130-6 after 33.2 overs.

There was a long-awaited victory for Fair Oak IV away to Sarisbury Athletic V in Hampshire Division 6 South East. Batting first, Oaks posted an impressive 196-8 with Alex Ball hitting 40 and Tom Clark Sr an unbeaten 43 in a ninth-wicket stand of 63 with Albert Voaden (18no). There were two wickets each for Dave Andrews, Reuben Hare and Avinash Kumar.

Kumar (39) and Richard Andrews (38) took Sarisbury to 71 without loss in reply. But then Ball’s devastating spell of 5-12 prompted the loss of all ten home wickets with just another 19 runs added. With Sarisbury all out for 93, Oaks’ margin of victory was an impressive 103 runs.