If Nepal can do it why not us?

QUALIFYING for the under-19 World Cup is not out of Guernsey's reach. The 2003 tounament in Bangladesh received extensive live coverage on satellite television and was played in front of massive crowds with a total of more than 300,000 people watching the various matches.

Nepal, Canada, Scotland, Ireland and Papua New Guinea qualified from the associate members to join the full-member countries and Nepal will bask for years in the glory of beating mighty South Africa in one of their group matches.

Having played against the Danish under-19 side in Denmark last year with Wanderers, I noted with interest that they just missed out to Ireland on qualifying by a tiny net run rate margin.

The Danish under-19s, despite being very well-disciplined and organised, were certainly not as good as Guernsey's current crop of under-13s look like being in five or six years time, so who knows what is possible?

The under-19 World Cup is played every two years so that each age group does not miss out on the opportunity.

At under-19 level, World Cup European qualifiers are held every two years in late July/early August between the nine European associate members, plus applicants from Europe's affiliate members.

Guernsey will be looking to enter a side in the 2005 qualifiers and its current under-16 age group should certainly be focusing on participating in 2007.

In addition, the ECC under-19 championships are held in the intervening years between Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Denmark and an ECB XI.

It is hoped Guernsey will be able to participate in future years as its under-19s get stronger each year through the development programme.

At under-17, under-15 and under-13 levels, the tournament structure is identical.

The First Division of the European Championships is played for annually by Scotland, Ireland, Holland and Denmark, while the Second Division is held every two years between the five remaining European associate members plus affiliate members by application.

Guernsey would need to apply to enter at this stage and it is possible that the tournament structure may need to change to accommodate Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

The Second Division of the under-15s will be held in August 2005 (and every two years thereafter) while the Second Division of the under-13s and under-17s will both be held in August in 2006 (and every two years thereafter).

The island's fledgling women's cricket team are set to benefit, too.

In their game the IWCC World Cup is held every four years (2004 and 2008) and is open to associate members plus affiliate member applicants.

It would be entirely feasible to believe that a Guernsey women's team could enter in 2008.

Meanwhile, the IWCC Trophy/European Champ-ionships are held every two years (2005, 2007 etc.) and are open to all European associate and affiliate members.

There is also an ECC women's under-21 championship held every two years (2006, 2008 etc.) and is open to all European associate and affiliate members.

The whole package of ICC European tournaments is a very comprehensive one and will provide Guernsey cricketers of all ages, as well as the cricketing ladies, with a regular, structured programme of challenging tournaments which in turn lead to global tournaments as the Sarnians attain ever-higher standards.