Tight-lipped GCB

THE chairman of the Guernsey Cricket Board, Dave Piesing, has refused to be drawn into the growing debate over player eligibility for ICC associate and affiliate countries.

It has been strongly suggested that the likes of Guernsey and Jersey are being handicapped by the eligibility conditions of rival countries in the World League.

An article by journalist James Siviter on www.cricketeurope4.net, which is a website that concentrates on European cricket and non-test playing nations, has raised the issue of lower-ranked nations being crammed full of players not born and raised in those countries.

'Take, for example, the Norway team that features 11 players that are Pakistani born and bred,' he said in his story.

'They live in Norway, have qualified under the ICC's residency qualifications and no one would begrudge them competing for their adopted land. However, their success, or indeed failure, tells us little about Norway's calibre or development as a cricketing nation.'

Siviter reckoned that the likes of Bahrain, who again beat Guernsey at the recent Pepsi ICC World Cricket League tournament in Singapore, are enjoying an advantage.

Piesing (pictured) declined to comment when contacted yesterday.

He said that the ICC will discuss the subject next month at their Dubai headquarters and he did not want to make a statement before then.