Hosts ‘on target’ as preparation ramps up for World Cup qualifier

The 14-strong group was revealed on Wednesday night and the Island’s director of cricket reported that ‘everyone is in a good place’ as they prepare to challenge for a place at next year’s Europe Final where the Netherlands, Scotland, Italy and Jersey await.

‘It has been pretty much two years to get to this point,’ said Frith.

‘It goes back to what we started in trying to get everyone back and wanting to play cricket for Guernsey. There have been lots of significant steps taken along the way to help us get to this point, with a lot of unsung heroes coming on board such as Rob Thomson as manager, Craig Hogan as coach, Ella Widdowson as performance analyst as well as the appointment of Ollie [Nightingale] as skipper, of course.

‘We are on target for where we want to be. Everyone is available and on form, fully fit and having played good cricket.

‘If two years ago you’d have offered me that at this point, I would have taken it ... and if you offer me that in three weeks, I would be even happier.’

There is a good mix of youth and experience, with Josh Butler returning in place of Charlie Birch in the only change to the Inter-Insular Cup squad from June, when the Sarnians finished the series on a high by beating Jersey for the first time in a T20I.

Guernsey will face Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland and Malta in their group at the qualifier and need to finish top of the table to reach the final, with only the outright winners progressing to the Europe Final.

‘We’re pretty confident that we have the best squad available to us,’ Frith said.

‘We have had quite an established and settled line-up for a time, but there are a lot of people performing well and training hard, so they’re challenging and pushing for places, making it trickier for us as selectors, which is how it should be.

‘There are guys who will be disappointed to miss out on the team and it is hard to leave people out because they have all worked hard, but with it being a tournament at home, you want the reserves to feel part of the squad because if anyone suffers an injury or anything, someone else will come in. So as far as we are concerned for now, it is effectively still a squad of 18.’

Frith added that the squad have learnt a lot this summer from how they will go about playing international T20 cricket on matting pitches, with the short ball being more of a weapon to the bowlers, but they will wait until the tournament itself to assess the opposition.

‘It is more about trying to understand, as the Belgium games showed us, that anything can happen at any point of a T20 game and so we will keep the focus on ourselves and what we can control,’ he said.

He emphasised, though, that the Guernsey fans could play a big part as the squad’s figurative 15th man.

‘It is massive for us to have the support of the home crowd and we want to engage as many people as possible when it comes to the tournament,’ Frith said.

‘It is a good day out and you could be part of something special for Guernsey cricket, so we want to pack the KGV and Port Soif for our games.’

The tournament runs from 21-28 August.

Guernsey squad

Ollie Nightingale (captain), Tom Nightingale (vice-captain), Luke Bichard, Martin-Dale Bradley, Josh Butler, Ollie Clapham, Zak Damarell, Ben Ferbrache, Ben Fitchet, Charlie Forshaw, Harry Johnson, Adam Martel, Dane Mullen, Matt Stokes.