Coach hails hosts’ ‘self-belief’ ahead of T20 World Cup qualifier

From Wednesday the Island side will be battling it out with nine other nations in the ICC Men’s 2026 T20 World Cup Sub-Regional European Qualifier C with the last spot in next year’s Europe Final at stake and coach Craig Hogan believes they are more than capable of succeeding, adding that the players are raring to go.

‘I think it’s got to the point if we’d have been able to play the tournament two weeks ago, we’d have been buzzing ... it’s just this last little bit,’ Hogan told the Guernsey Press Sport Podcast.

‘The boys just can’t wait to get started. It’s got that feeling about it. It’s come and they’re excited, so that’s that’s the main thing.’

• Listen to the full interview with Craig Hogan on the latest Guernsey Press Sport Podcast

Preparations have gone well for Guernsey this summer, with some impressive results against visiting academy sides from Hampshire, Somerset and Ireland as well as the MCC and RAF.

Despite suffering a series defeat in the Inter-Insular Cup, they also beat Jersey for the first time in a T20I.

‘There’s definitely a lot more self-belief than than probably what we had when we started,’ said the consultant coach who is working alongside Guernsey’s director of cricket Jeremy Frith.

‘I wouldn’t say there was doubt when we first started those few practice games, but just because you never know what it’s going to be like and in those academies there’s some good young cricketers. Okay, they’re boys, but they’re good cricketers and a lot of them now are playing some county cricket and that sort of stuff.

‘To be able to turn a couple of those sides over is good. The Irish, we nailed them quite well and they always bring a good squad over, so that was good cricket.’

But it was an eye-opening trip to Brussels to play four T20Is against Belgium that Hogan believes will prove the most beneficial when it comes to the tournament next week.

‘Belgium was a really interesting couple of couple of days for us,’ he said.

‘It sort of put the boys out of their comfort zone a little bit and I think even though we won two and lost two, that’s probably the most valuable learning experience that we had – mainly because we scored nearly 200 in a couple of games and got chased down.

‘So anything can happen and that was sort of an awareness I think the boys have come back with and go now, “well, we do have to do things a bit different if we’re going to play at this level”.’

Guernsey begin their campaign on Wednesday morning when they face Bulgaria at Port Soif.

They also face Malta, Finland and Estonia in the group, alternating between the KGV and the Rovers headquarters.

The other group comprises Spain, Cyprus, Denmark, Czech Republic and Greece.

The two nations who top their groups will meet in the final on Wednesday 28 August and the winner will progress to the Europe Final where the Netherlands, Scotland, Italy and Jersey await.

‘Look, there’s there’s a couple of sides in this tournament that you’d look at, but we don’t get too worried about who we’re playing. It’s more, what can we do?,’ Hogan said.

‘If we do the little things right that we’re trying, well, the big thing will look after itself. That’s the way we’re going about it.

‘We don’t get caught up in what they’ve got or who’s got this and they’ve got that. It doesn’t matter to us. We just go and play our cricket.

‘That’s the self-belief I think that we’ve got at the moment.’

He also called upon the Guernsey public to support their team as much as possible.

‘It’d be great to see [big crowds].

‘If people have never seen games of cricket before, this will be the best standard of cricket that they’ll see here and you’ll see different countries, different people.

‘There’s nine other sides here, all from different parts of the world, and to see that all on our doorstep is a really good thing ... so it will be great to see people come down and give the boys a cheer on and they’d love it I’m sure.’

• Guernsey squad

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

• Schedule

Wednesday 21 August

10.30am

Spain v Cyprus, KGV; GUERNSEY v Bulgaria, Port Soif.

3.30pm

Denmark v Czech Republic, KGV; Finland v Malta, Port Soif.

Thursday 22 August

10.30am

Estonia v Finland, KGV; Greece v Denmark, Port Soif.

3.30pm

Malta v GUERNSEY, KGV; Czech Republic v Spain, Port Soif.

Saturday 24 August

10.30am

Spain v Denmark, KGV; GUERNSEY v Finland, Port Soif.

3.30pm

Cyprus v Greece, KGV; Bulgaria v Estonia, Port Soif.

Sunday 25 August

10.30am

Bulgaria v Malta, KGV; Cyprus v Czech Republic, Port Soif.

3.30pm

Estonia v GUERNSEY, KGV; Greece v Spain, Port Soif.

Tuesday 27 August

10.30am

Denmark v Cyprus, KGV; Finland v Bulgaria, Port Soif.

3.30pm

Czech Republic v Greece, KGV; Malta v Estonia, Port Soif.

Wednesday 28 August

10.30am

Third/fourth play-off, KGV; Seventh/eighth play-off, Port Soif.

3.30pm

Final, KGV; Fifth/sixth play-off, Port Soif.