Hosting tournament is ‘huge for Guernsey’
HOME ADVANTAGE could be the key to Guernsey tasting success in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Final this summer, according to Ash Wright.
The national coach is delighted the island will host the six-team round-robin event, which also includes Denmark, Germany, Italy, Jersey and Norway, from 15-20 June at the KGV and College Field.
The side who come out on top will progress to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier vying then for a place at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Australia 2020.
‘I’ve seen when we have had inter-insulars the amount of support we get – even when we go away – so it will be absolutely brilliant to have it here,’ Wright said.
‘It’s huge for the island as well, not just cricket, to have the kids come down and watch, the women’s cricket as well, it’s going to promote the game well for us.
‘One of the things we struggle with is that we don’t get a chance for anyone to see that much live [representative] cricket, so to have a tournament like this here is going to be huge for the island.’
The squad’s preparations started in earnest last night with their first official training session of the year and with several fixtures already confirmed in the run-up to the event – including the T20 inter-insular series here on 30 May and 1 June, which are due to be the first played at full international status, subject to ICC ratification – Wright stressed that there will be no excuses of his players being under-prepared.
‘Obviously we have the T20s against Jersey, which are T20Is now, and we have a couple of games against the MCC and we’ve also got the Netherlands coming over before the tournament, so as warm-ups go our schedule is as good as it has ever been.’
More in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.
