|
Second European title for Jersey cricketers
Andy Bradshaw from the Jersey Evening Post
Second European title for Jersey cricketers
By Andy Bradshaw
JERSEY cricket continued its wonderful year by winning their second ICC European Division Championship of the summer yesterday with a seven-wicket victory against France in Guernsey.
In the top match between the respective group winners in the Under-23 Division II tournament , Jersey spun their way to victory with captain Peter Gough taking five wickets and Danny Blasco three. There were also two wickets for Tom Minty and with Jersey dismissing the French for a total of 80 runs in 31.3 overs, they reached their target for the loss of three wickets in 16.2 overs.
Captain Peter Gough said: 'We wanted the emulate the U19s' success in Jersey recently and we've achieved it. We're all very happy to have won and really we were not under any pressure.
'We knew we could do with the talent we have in this squad though despite a big win the tournament has certainly not been a miss-match.
'France are probably not as strong as Gibraltar and Germany and we beat them because we bowled and fielded superbly. Tom and Danny have given very few runs away in their two games and they can be really proud of their efforts.
'France's batsmen struggled to score off our bowling, we squeezed the life out of them and I was fortunate enough to take five wickets.
'Where we go from here we don't know. We've all been impressed with the standard, it's been a lot better then we expected and we've had to play well to win.
'Half of the our squad will be too old to play in the next U23 tournament but half will remain. Those that remain have a very good future while those moving out of the age group will now be focusing on getting into the full Island side.'
Chasing 81 for victory Jersey lost the wickets of Jonny Gough and brothers Sam and Andy Dewhurst.
Peter Gough added: 'Jonny was unlucky to be out, he was caught on the boundary after smashing the ball and it was going for a six!
'Sam played excellently again, both days he has opened the batting and he's been impressive to watch with some confident strokes all round the ground.'
Team manager Chris Minty said: 'It was a great win and another fine team performance. Peter bowled very straight and he got the ball to turn as well and he had great support from Danny.
'This tournament and the recent U19s tournament have been great learning experiences for everyone and our players have performed well.
'In order for us to continue to develop we have to keep being tested. To gain promotion at any age is based on the performances of a nation's senior team. There is a meeting in the autumn to discuss our situation and we'll have to wait and see what is decided.'
The next age group in ICC European action is the under-15s, later this month in La Manga, Spain.
Guernsey finished third in the tournament after defeating Gibraltar yesterday by seven wickets with two overs to spare. Tim Ravenscroft, who took three wickets for 20 runs, scored an unbeaten 58 while Ben Quéripel contributed 44 and Ben Ferbrache an undefeated 34.
Guernsey were told they were through to the final after their 51-run win on Wednesday against Italy but after a second calculation of the scores they were then told that France had in fact qualified with the better run rate. Scenes of jubilation soon turned to despair when they were told they had missed out. It was calculated that if Guernsey had lost one less wicket or scored three more runs, they would have gone through.
|
Email This Article To Someone!