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Massive Boost for Jersey Cricket
Paul Le Conte of the JEP
JERSEY cricket has been given a massive boost with news that the International Cricket Council is to expand the World Cricket League to five divisions.
After finishing runners-up to Norway in the European Cricket Council Division II Championship in Glasgow, Jersey's senior cricketers thought their next chance of international competition would be in the same championships in 2008.
However Jersey are in a strong position to benefit from the expansion of the World League as it will open up another potential opportunity, and a competition against countries such as Norway, Afghanistan, Argentina, Botswana and the Cook Islands early in 2008.
Said Jersey Cricket Board Directror of Cricket Chris Minty: 'The news came as a bit of a surprise, but a very pleasant one.
'All we were thinking about was the European tournament in 2008, but if they do decide to include an additional European country in World League Division V then it has to be Jersey because of the ranking we achieved in Glasgow.
'I think it is very rewarding that we have made such significant progress on the back of all the hard work that has been put in during 2006, both on and off the field.
'As well as the short term, the JCB has always been looking at the long term picture as well. This is just the latest example of the wonderful opportunities being members of the ICC can bring.
'This news gives all the young players on our development programmes something to aspire to and is a reward for the investment put in by the Jersey Cricket Board and its sponsors,' he added.
Neither the World League Division V Championship or the ECC Division II Championships in 2008 have as yet been allocated to a country to host.
And it is the same situation with Under-15 and Under-19 tournaments next year that Jersey are eligible to enter.
It is expected that Jersey, with its high quality grass wickets, will be preparing a bid to host one of them.
At least one and perhaps two more European countries will have the opportunity to take part in global competition as a result of the ICC's decision.
The leading five European nations have already won places in the first three divisions: World Cup qualifiers Ireland, The Netherlands and Scotland in Division 1 (which will take place in Kenya in January-February next year), Denmark in Division 2 (planned for Namibia in November 2007), and Italy in Division 3 (planned to take place in the USA in summer 2007).
But with an eight-team Division 5 tournament now planned for the first half of 2008, five places in which are assigned to the next ranked country in each region.
The three remaining places will be allocated by the ICC Development Committee when it meets in December, and those allocations will be based on the rankings of the next group of countries.
This means that Jersey, runners-up to Norway in this year's European Second Division tournament, and possibly even Germany, who finished third, will be competing with The Bahamas, Panama, Nepal, Singapore, Mozambique, Zambia and Japan for those last three positions.
Given the size and comparative strength of the European region, however (with 27 members it is by far the largest of ICC's five regions, and it has a well-established four-division tournament structure of its own), there must be a reasonable chance that Jersey will join Norway on the bottom rung of this ambitious global competition, and even an outside possibility that Germany might get the nod as well.
Even the Division 5 countries have a theoretical chance of qualifying for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup: the top two in that competition will progress to Division 4, to be held later in 2008, and the top two from Division 4 will then move on to the 2009 version of Division 3.
With the sides finishing first and second in Division 3 qualifying for the ICC World Cup Qualifier (former ICC Trophy) - the qualifying tournament for the 2011 World Cup - it is imaginable that a country could progress from the lower reaches of the World Cricket League to the High Performance Programme and the premier global one-day competition in the space of 18 magical months.
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