Victory confirms hosts' rightful place in the ICC

ANDY BIGGINS believes all the signs are there for Guernsey to be successful affiliate members of the ICC. The island captain was talking after his side had comfortably beaten the Isle of Man for the second time in two days to regain the Four-Islands Trophy.

The opposition, who were beaten by 60 runs in the final, were accepted as ICC affiliate members earlier this summer but were outplayed by the Sarnians on both occasions last week.

'It is starting to hit home that we are a very useful side and by playing sides like that who are already involved in the ICC, we know that we are not going to be found wanting,' said Biggins.

'Obviously, we have got a lot to work on but as affiliates we have got to back ourselves to win games like that if we play like we did this week.

'I would suggest that the standard we are playing at now is akin to the Channel Islands side that played in the ECB County 38s.

Biggins was certainly correct about his team being the best in the tournament.

Although their first two wins were gained unsatisfactorily via the Duckworth-Lewis method after heavy rain hit the fixtures with Jersey and Isle of Wight, on the last two days, the home side stamped their authority on proceedings in an extremely impressive manner.

The final itself was particularly comfortable, despite being asked to bat as Isle of Man looked to make the most of a wicket that helped the seamers early on.

Matt Oliver was dismissed by Scott Pearce, the Australian who impressed throughout the tournament, and Tim Duke also struggled initially, playing and missing on several occasions.

But the Rovers opener stuck it out during that difficult period and went on to play his best innings in Guernsey colours as he carried his bat for an unbeaten 97.

It was just the type of knock Guernsey needed because it allowed the other top-order batsmen to play around him.

Ami Banerjee timed the ball beautifully for his 32 until, out of the blue, he got a nick to the wicketkeeper.

But that did not mean any let-up for Isle of Man because Jeremy Frith had a platform from which to work and a partner who was happy to pick up singles and give him the strike.

The Cobo all-rounder admitted to boring himself in the inter-insular but he entertained everybody with this innings as he displayed his full repertoire of strokes.

His deflection sweeps and reverse sweeps came out of the locker, both finding the boundary, and his driving was excellent, with one lofted shot clattering into the sightscreen.

He finished with 77 from 72 balls with nine fours and that one six as he and Duke put on 120 for the third wicket.

Divan van den Heever added a brisk 32 towards the end as Guernsey easily surpassed their captain's original target of 220 and Duke accelerated perfectly with some late blows to take the total up to 261 for five.

It was unfortunate for him that he was off strike for the final two deliveries of the innings - he deserved a hundred.

The reply started poorly for the visitors as van den Heever and Matt Jeffery reduced them to 22 for three early on.

Jaco Jansen and Graeme Garrett gave Isle of Man some hope with a stand of 79 but when Gary Rich gained revenge for being hit for two sixes and a four in his opening over by dismissing Garrett, the end was nigh.

Jansen, a tall left-hander, batted well for his 84 but he received no support from the tail as the Cobo off-spinner added three further wickets to his tally and the trophy was secured when Mark Williams sliced Jeffery to point where van den Heever took the catch.

'The whole week has been a real team effort. It has been hard work playing so many games, but the guys have stuck together well,' Biggins said.