Coming up against aspiring professional cricketers, the majority of whom were under-19 players, proved the ideal test for the Island squad as they began their new season at the KGV with highly-competitive matches.
Having lost their Thursday opener to Hampshire, the Sarnians gained revenge on Saturday when Tom Nightingale starred with a brilliant 63 in a six-wicket win.
He followed that up with a rapid 59 off 29 balls while Matt Stokes hit an unbeaten 47 from 32 as Guernsey won their first T20 against Surrey on Monday by seven wickets, successfully chasing down a target 129, before the visitors replied with a five-wicket win in the second game of their double-header.
‘Tom struck the ball really nicely, struck some big blows, and did all the things we know he does well like his ground fielding, his catching and everything,’ said Guernsey’s director of cricket Jeremy Frith.
‘In his batting he had a good balance of being pro-active and waiting for the balls that came into his areas.’
But Frith emphasised that the squad benefitted in both the short and long term from the series and this week’s upcoming matches with Essex Academy, who face the Island in a 50-over contest on Friday before back-to-back T20s on Saturday.
‘As a first outing, it was a good exercise and good to see a few top individual performances. It was also good to see our progress throughout the weekend,’ he said.
‘We used 19 players over the course of the weekend, which was great because we got to see a lot of people and there are still more to see this coming weekend.
‘It was nice to have the likes of Ant Stokes back, and Charlie Simmonds, Charlie Birch too.’
Frith also had a word of praise for U16s Evan Le Huray and Ed Robinson.
‘We have got a few good young lads coming through, it’s good that they get exposure to this level of cricket and they did not look out of place.
‘We can now say to them, “you’ve had this experience this year, when you come back next year you will be further in your own development and you will be able to see your progression”.
‘They are essentially playing against their peers from across the water, so they can see what good looks like from beyond Guernsey.
‘One of the things we have really tried to do since I came in [as director of cricket] is re-establish links with counties and it is good exposure for young players to see that level. Charlie Forshaw and Harry Johnson got their breakthroughs with Hampshire from our games two years ago.
‘We are also trying to show the island off as a good destination to come and we have got a number of counties interested in coming next year. Hopefully we might be able to turn it into a bit of a festival.
‘Much of the credit goes to Rob Thomson because he did a lot of the leg work on putting the programme together and he has done a great job.’
Word at the KGV last weekend was that the Essex side will be the strongest of the three visiting academies, but Frith wanted to concentrate on his own players.
‘The main thing is that some guys who did not play last weekend are in a place to take their opportunity and get some performances under their belt,’ he said.
‘As a group, we will just continue to try and improve on those basics – things like running between the wickets, some of the outfielding, etc – and keep the high standards and intensity.’
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