Savident back for tour

LEE SAVIDENT is to once again to wear Guernsey's three green lions on his chest. Island manager Dave Hearse has named the Hampshire-based Guernseyman in a 13-man squad that will play Scotland A side in Edinburgh at the end of next month.

The 28-year-old used to be a professional cricketer for Hampshire and is now the captain of Portsmouth that plays in the Southern Premier League Division One.

'When I was asked to play for Guernsey in the ICC games, I sort of thought I won't bother,' said Savident.

'But then I realised that it would be a chance to play some decent cricket again.'

The squad selected by Hearse is based around the squad that spent the winter training together, plus Savident and also Jeremy Frith.

The Cobo player now lives in Hampshire but he will frequently return to the island during the summer to coach and to play in Cobo's weekend league side.

Pierre Moody, Nick Derbyshire and Divan van den Heever are all unavailable for the tour.

Moody' wife is due to give birth to their first child around the time of the tour, Derbyshire is in the UK preparing for his wedding in September and van den Heever is back in his native South Africa for the foreseeable future.

All three are bowlers and loss of opening bowlers Derbyshire and van den Heever will hit the team hard.

'Derbyshire and Divan gives us genuine pace,' said Hearse.

'Looking at the squad though we've got five seam bowlers going. We will go with the players that we've got and they will do a very good job.

'But I will take at least an extra player or maybe two.'

Hearse added that he will be looking at bowlers and maybe take a junior player to give them experience.

Bowler Stuart Bisson, who returns from travelling a couple of weeks before the tour, is a consideration, but he hasn't played any cricket since squad training at Christmas time.

The Rovers player may be rusty when he comes back, but Hearse points out that he is a naturally fit and he will still be in good shape.

The team will fly to Edinburgh on Saturday 28 May and they will play Scotland A in three limited overs matches on the following days, returning on 1 June.

Their opponents will be a combination of the national second-string players and the best juniors from the under-21 set up and Hearse reckons that they will be strong.

Savident and Frith will probably drive up to Scotland on that Saturday after they have both played league matches in Hampshire.