Minor success!

Pre-season Friendly at Grainville

Jersey beat Norfolk by 1 wicket

Norfolk 173-7 (50)
Jersey 174-9 (50)

It looked for the most part a comfortable win for the home side. Chasing a modest 174 at 3.3 an over, Jersey were cruising at 131-1, in good time.

Then, a collapse of England proportions saw the match swing completely the other way, and in the end, it was an extremely unlikely last ball win for Jersey with the last pair at the wicket.

What an extraordinary climax to a match that started with Jersey winning the toss and captain Ryan Driver inviting the visitors into bat. And what a good decision that looked as Norfolk were reduced to 60-5 after 20 overs.

But an 86 partnership for the sixth wickets between Steven Gray, who finished unbeaten on 50, and Luke Newton, who made 40, took them to a respectable 173-7 off their allotted 50 overs. Chris Jones took 3-23, Peter Blackburn 2-32 and Tony Carlyon 2-11 off his four overs.

In reply, Jersey made light work of building their reply - openers Peter Gough and Dave Morfee looked totally in control as the took the score past 50, always at a slightly better rate than the 3.48 needed. Morfee eventually went in the 21st over with the score 74-1, having made 22.

And it got better with Jonathan Gough, batting at three, helping Jersey to 131-1 at nearly four an over.

Then it got worse - much worse. Peter Gough was dismissed for a brilliant 75, Jonathan Gough for 18, Chris Jones and Ryan Driver both not troubling the scorers. In fact, four wickets fell for just three runs, and Jersey were suddenly 134-5 - with 40 needed from the final ten overs.

Danny Bertram hit three welcome boundaries and took the score to 157-5, with five overs to go and just 17 needed.

But he went for 15 , one of two unnecessary run-outs, and with the bowlers totally on top, Jersey reached the final over with the last pair of Martin Waite and James Caunt at the wicket, and nine runs needed. And when you think that Jersey had only scored nine runs in the previous four overs, hopes were very low that this last pair could achieve it.

But a run came with each ball, then there was a wide, and with the final ball ready to be sent down, Jersey needed two to tie. And when Waite clipped the final ball off his legs, the two runs came easily.

With the match saved, the pair thought "lets go for the third" even though the ball was on its way to the keeper. After all, there was now nothing to lose.

To the astonishment of all who were there, a terrible throw from the keepers end to the bowler saw the ball pass harmlessly over the bowler's outstretched hands high above his head, and Jersey miraculously easily completed that third for the most unlikeliest of wins by one wicket off the final ball of the day.

For Jersey's cricketing maestro Chris Minty, a great result that also highlighted a  weakness. He told BBC Jersey that "very often it goes the other way of course but this time we ended up on top.

"We won it because we stuck at it and I think that's the sort of spirit we're developing. But we've seen matches like this over the last two or three years where we've been in great positions only for it to fall away. It's a weakness we have and we need to work on it."

So a stunning start to the season for the island side, with a win over a team that plays a level above Jersey, and indeed had been practicing and preparing for this match for the last few days.