NEW Zealander Ryan Shutte produced a stunning solo performance as Ventnor opened their defence of the Division 2 title in style.
The 22-year old Northern Districts all-rounder, pictured right, took 4-27 before hitting a match-winning 76 in Islanders' five-win victory at Sparsholt.
The Kiwi struck with only his third ball of the match and then took three more wickets as he came back for a second spell.
Jerry Frith (77) and Ian Stuart (30) repaired the early damage, but prospects of a challenging Sparsholt total disappeared when the captain was caught behind.
Leg spinner Orazio Santalucia (3-27) and Ian Hilsum (2-20) sliced through the middle-order as Sparsholt dipped from a promising 120-2 to 157 all out - Shutte taking the last two wickets.
The New Zealander then took control with the bat.
With Ventnor wobbling at 21-2, he shared a crucial third-wicket stand of 125 with Neil Westhorpe (37) as the visitors moved towards an eventual five-wicket win.
Michael Heffernan hit the first century of the season as Alton powered to a 70-run win over Old Tauntonians & Romsey.
Heffernan struck a fine 101 and shared a key second-wicket partnership with Howard Gadsby (45).
Alton's 209-5 proved far beyond the reach of OTs, who ran into early problems against Alex Hughes (3-39) and dropped to 54-3 (Jodey Brown 32).
Ian Tulk (30) and Max Smith steadied the ship, but once Julian Ballinger (4-23) removed Tulk, OTs tumbled from 112-4 to 139 all out.
Calmore's (99) fears of a long hard season were realised with a thumping 140-run defeat at Hungerford (239).
BAT lost out to Bournemouth in yesterday's Cockspur Cup match.
Hosts BAT posted 202-9, built around Damian Shirazi's 62, but were pegged back by Chris Coombes (3-49) and Darren Cowley (3-40).
Bournemouth made a good start in reply through Matt Swarbrick (47) and Cowley (40 from 30 balls), but the match-winning knock came from Richard Scott who hit an unbeaten 60, which included three huge sixes, as the visitors reached their victory target for the loss of four wickets with one over to spare.
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