ICC move serves up fantastic future
GUERNSEY cricket's decision to resign from the England and Wales Cricket Board and throw in their lot with the International Cricket Council is the most momentous move ever made by a local sporting body.
GUERNSEY cricket's decision to resign from the England and Wales Cricket Board and throw in their lot with the International Cricket Council is the most momentous move ever made by a local sporting body. It's bold, it's brave, but in making the switch, Guernsey cricket can look forward to a fantastic future, capitalising on the best crop of young talent the island has ever seen.
The men who made the decision - the local branch of the Channel Islands Cricket Board - should stand up and take a bow.
Their foresight offers all cricketers under the age of 25 a massive carrot to develop their skills and reap previously unknown rewards.
ICC membership gives Guernsey cricketers the chance to perform on the highest international stage.
Events such as the under-19 World Cup, last year staged in Bangladesh, are now open to us.
Then there is the ICC Trophy, one step below the World Cup itself.
Age-group tournaments, tours. The world is suddenly Channel Islands cricket's oyster.
Football missed a similar chance a few years ago.
Dave Dorey, football's own visionary, could see the best way forward. Part of his plans to introduce a Channel Islands League involved the combined islands side playing in the Uefa European Championships.
Jersey scoffed at the idea and the dream vanished.
Cricket has seized the chance though.
At the core of the move is a group of ambitious individuals, successful in business and cricket lovers, alongside the likes of whom Dave Dorey, surely about to return as GFA president, would love to work.
Guernsey cricketers may not yet know it, but I suspect in time the sport will be in great debt to those visionaries on the CICB.
n?VALE REC will propose Dave Dorey as the next GFA president in succession to Alec Le Noury.
Inside Sport suspects it will be the first of several nominations for the former GFA chief executive who has already made it clear that should he be elected, among his priorities will be to convince Jersey of the benefits of a Channel Islands League.
Given cricket's move onto the international scene, it will be interesting to see if football has the gumption to follow suit.
CI football needs a revolution.
Interestingly, but hardly a shock, there has been little feedback to this correspondent's assertions that domestic football needs an overhaul.
Is this lack of response merely apathy, an indication that the sport is fighting a losing battle or a sign that the footballing public consider that everything is rosy?
My guess is it is the first and I hope that the game will take a leaf out of cricket, which not so long ago suffered similar ills, but has moved with the times.
If cricket can see the bigger picture, so can footy.
