Our top players in line for Euro places

GUERNSEY cricketers could feature in a new European representative team. Plans are under way at the European Cricket Council to select the best players from across Europe to play against a strong MCC side in the Netherlands on 30 June.

Guernsey, along with Jersey, were awarded associate membership to the International Cricket Council on the back of strong performances against Bermuda and Namibia in Sussex last year.

According to ECC development manager Richard Holdsworth, the side would comprise the strongest possible representation of European cricket and the top three European countries: Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands which are on the ICC High Performance Progr-amme would supply the backbone of the team.

'Nature tells us that the best players tend to come out from these countries,' he said.

'But there are some good cricketers in Denmark and Italy and newer associates such as Jersey and Guernsey. The selection pool is 27 countries wide.'

The management team and selection panel for the European side will be chosen at an ECC executive meeting on 6 April. It is proposed that an initial squad of 30 players will be chosen by the end of April and be whittled down to just 12 for the match in June.

The most likely to be in contention from Guernsey are ex-first class players Jeremy Frith, Lee Savident and Ami Banerjee.

It would seem 28 year-old Frith stands a strong chance of selection after a superb 2005 season in which he made 416 runs for the island and took 20 wickets with his left- arm spin.

The ECC hopes that the European team develops further to possibly one day taking on other regions such as Asia and Africa in four or five-day unofficial test matches.

Guernsey Cricket Board president David Piesing is very excited by the venture.

'It would be great for Guernsey if we could get one or two players selected for the squad this year and even better if we can get as many home-produced players as possible selected in the future, particularly those who have gone through the youth-development structure,' he said.

'It would seem that the establishment of a European representative side could lead to new opportunities to play at a much higher level globally and that any player from Guernsey who is good enough to get into the European representative side will really have achieved something very significant.

'Apart from Scotland, Ireland, Holland and Denmark, I think Guernsey, in the form of Lee Savident, are the only ECC nation to have produced a home-grown, first-class cricketer to date, so to add to that would be fantastic.'