Spain trip opens busy international summer
GUERNSEY will make their long-awaited return to international cricket in Spain next month.
The Island men’s squad will play the host nation and Norway in a triangular T20I ranking series at Desert Springs between 29 April and 1 May as part of their preparations for the ICC 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifiers in Finland in July.
Each nation will play each other twice and they should be competitive matches, with Guernsey currently ranked 38th, Spain 39th and Norway 41st.
‘After a long two years the team can’t wait to get away and play international cricket again,’ said Guernsey men’s captain Josh Butler.
‘We are all very grateful to Spain and Desert Springs for getting this tri-series and to Cricket Norway for adding to the competition.
‘We have had a very positive and competitive couple of years of domestic cricket with some really strong individual performances, which puts us in a good place for the busy summer of international cricket we can now look forward to in 2022.
‘We also have some very exciting young players who are really pushing for a place in our senior squad so I am sure we will see some new names on the team sheet at some point this summer.’
Norway captain Raza Iqbal also expressed his delight at having games ahead of the European qualifiers.
‘Due to our extreme weather conditions in winter times, Norwegian cricketers do not get that much of a chance to practice outdoor cricket in the off-season but with the help of the Norwegian Cricket Board and its management we do have indoor facilities to polish our skill set to raise it up to a certain level where we can compete with any team in the European region,’ he said.
Christian Munoz-Mills, the Spanish captain, added: ‘The team is very excited about the Tri-Series between Guernsey and Norway and ourselves. It is our first series of a very important year for cricket in Spain as we look to take the next step into world cricket.
‘The team has been working really hard during the winter and will get together before the Tri-series for a high performance camp at Desert Springs, a great place with amazing facilities where we can work on our game.’
