Domestic cricket needs to toughen

TODAY in a hot and sweaty Singapore our cricketers do battle with Cayman for third and fourth spot in World Cricket League Five.

The pressure is off, survival is assured and the prospect of spending a week in Nepal this spring at another WCL divisional tournament, only a division higher, averted.

The lads can get back to playing a spot of leisurely evening cricket at Port Soif and KGV or GCA Championship cricket against the first XI at picturesque College Field.

Those with families may be a tad relieved that they won't be heading off again to foreign climes this year and another tiring tournament, but I would hope, and expect, that there will still be a prevailing feeling of disappointment as the team fly westward and back home tomorrow.

Guernsey certainly blew their chance of promotion – one which could clearly have been achieved – with some iffy batting.

All week the bowling survived scrutiny when many considered it would be Guernsey's Achilles heel, but too often the batting crumbled under pressure, the notable exceptions being Jeremy Frith and Ross Kneller.

Tim Ravenscroft, the player with the most talent, barely scored a run until yesterday's final game when the inevitable happened – he came good – and the absence of Lee Savident was keenly felt.

On these counts, I was both surprised and not.

It is scarcely believable that a player of Ravenscroft's talent has yet to consistently cut the mustard on the international stage. But the overall batting malaise is nothing new and has its roots in a still too-soft domestic game, whereby the cut and thrust of the old evening game is now sadly lost, and the weekend cricket is fought out on generally very flat pitches amid unpenetrative bowling.

In addition, we have sadly long seen the end of the stream of touring sides that would often provide our best with unsuspecting challenges in the form of a demon quick, or mystery spinner.

Were Jeremy Frith to be run over tomorrow we would be seriously damaged, as it is obvious we are hugely reliant on this one man.

It would be easy to conclude that the Guernsey batting won't really improve until the cricket is tougher, but solving that low-pressure issue is not so easily achieved, as it probably cannot be done from within and the annual CI League is far from the complete answer.

There are two solutions to ensure our batsmen perform better under real pressure, that the pool of talent is widened and there are capable successors to the likes of Savident, Rich, Biggins, Smit, Le Prevost and Bisson.

One, the island emulates rugby and football onto the national stage and, two, some stimulus can be found to get the best out of a highly talented youth contingent, but one that, in too many cases, fails to make the best of their ability.

In conversation, Guernsey Cricket Board president David Piesing noted before this week's tournament, that not enough youngsters are banging down the selection door. Too many, he said, are content to cruise, so even if the GCB were able to open up a pathway into more testing cricket, in say Hampshire's Southern Electric Premier League, would they want it?

Desire has never been a problem for Dave Hooper, the young all-rounder, batsman Ben Ferbrache or bowler Jamie Nussbaumer.

To me, the trio are the perfect example of what can be achieved with dedication and sheer determination.

They want it badly, but there are not enough like them I am afraid.

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PERHAPS WCL Division Five is Guernsey cricket's reality check, the place to play for years to come. But I hope not.

Just as I hope our rugby, another sport very much on the up, does not satisfy itself at playing National Three level, one division up from London One South, on which they currently proudly sit atop.

And what about the Green Lions? What will they be happy with? Combined Counties Premier, or the level above, Ryman Division One South or Evo-Stik Division One?

Is the Conference feasible?

I ask the question, because surely mere acceptance of one's position, is not a good thing. It breeds an attitude of complacency.

Teams should always strive to be better, or what really is the point? Going into a tournament merely to maintain the status quo is uninspiring and sends out the wrong signals.

Naturally, there comes a point when a team reaches its own ceiling, but as far as our cricketers, footballers and rugby men are concerned, that point has not been reached yet.

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HE'S a bit big and adult to be holding Sam Cochrane's hand and it might not go down too well with the Guernsey Enterprise Agency to see their new MD in a replica kit, but given his current ability to turn everything to gold maybe James Blower should be the Guernsey mascot in this year's Muratti.

He's proving to be a very lucky presence.

The newest member of the GFA's board is ticking up the triumphs, the latest being to see his newly-introduced Guernsey Academy win through to the South West Counties Bluefin cup final for under-16s.

And the GFA's director of representative football has also managed to secure home advantage for the final.