It\u2019s called Farmer\u2019s Field for a reason. \u201cIt\u2019s owned,\u201d explains Jersey Cricket chief executive Sarah Gomersall, \u201cgenuinely, by a farmer, who 21 years ago decided that cricket was his passion, and that he would convert a field where he usually grew potatoes into a cricket field.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so 21 years later, on the\ufeff very same ground where the\ufeff farmer\u2019s potatoes used to grow, Jersey this week relaunched their quest for World Cup qualification with a seven-wicket win over Kenya.<\/p>\n
Cricket is booming in the Channel Islands. In truth, we are joining this story in the middle. \ufeffJersey will hope to end this week in the top two of their group of six, but will have to play play another set of matches next year in this competition, the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Group A\ufeff, and maintain that position.<\/p>\n
That will then put them into the qualifier play-offs, where success will put them in the official World Cup qualifiers in 2027. It feels both a world away and within touching distance.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, they missed out on reaching the T20 World Cup on net-runrate, a gut-wrenching near miss for a cricketing nation\ufeff like Jersey on the rise.<\/p>\n
Normally these stories of small nations who have a pop at the big time are the result of a flash in the pan. Associate level cricket fluctuates wildly due to the inherent amateur status of almost all the players.<\/p>\n
People cannot keep taking two weeks off work to play cricket, including those whose job it is to actually play cricket\ufeff.<\/p>\n
Asa Tribe, born and bred in Jersey and a professional with Glamorgan, isn\u2019t able to join the squad until later this week due to commitments with his county.<\/p>\n
But while Jersey have to battle \u00admatters of employment like everyone else, their growth has been built on steady, sustained\ufeff success. In 2013, they were competing in Division Six of world cricket against the likes of\ufeff Vanuatu, the East-Asia Pacific ICC team, but one promotion has led to another and to a strategic drive to host more global competitions on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, with a population of only 100,000, it means that unlike other nations who can rely on the odd player finding a useful passport down the back of the sofa, they have to rely on their talent being homegrown.<\/p>\n
Cricket has had a renaissance here. It\u2019s become an attractive sport in its own right for boys and girls<\/p>\n
Sarah Gomersall, Jersey Cricket<\/p>\n
\u201cUp until 2015 we did host but it was more infrequent,\u201d says Gomersall. \u201cThen, in 2022 we hosted the last round of this competition which we ended up winning and in 2023 we hosted the women\u2019s European Division 2 qualifier.\u201d<\/p>\n
A strong performance from the women in that year was equally seismic and led to increased investment in the women\u2019s side of the game, with a full-time\ufeff cricket coach recruited for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s had a renaissance,\u201d says Gomersall. \u201cIt used to only be girls that had a dad or brother who played, whereas now it\u2019s become an attractive sport in its own right.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo play for Jersey you have to be born on the island or you have to have lived here for three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo maintaining this level of interest and encouraging children, whether boys or girls, to play cricket is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the island there are four Premier League teams, two of which are the host grounds for this week. Farmer\u2019s Field is home to the aptly named Farmers Cricket Club, while the second ground, Grainville, is home to Jersey\u2019s National Centre of Cricket and the pessimistically named Walkovers Cricket Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarmer\u2019s Field is quintessentially English,\u201d says Gomersall. \u201cIt\u2019s in the east of the island, has a wooden pavilion, is close to the sea and is beautiful. While Grainville is on the outskirts of the capital St Helier, so it\u2019s accessible to the main hub of the island.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grainville is beautiful, too. With a large grass bank on one side, a marble outfield and bleachers scattered around the boundary where spectators and passersby can take a seat, it hosted a thriller between Kuwait and Qatar on the opening day of the competition\ufeff on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Grainville will also host an unlikely but heartwarming event today. Jersey and Kenya share an employment agreement, meaning there are around 600 Kenyans who live on the island. For the African team\u2019s first weekend fixture of the competition, when they play Qatar, Grainville is throwing a Kenyans and Friends family day where they hope to get as many of the local community down to the match as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of interest there,\u201d says Gomersall. \u201cAnd it brings an added dimension to it, because obviously the Islanders in Jersey root for their own team but we\u2019ve got a sizeable population who are\ufeff also here supporting Kenya.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jersey\u2019s own weekend matches are expected to draw crowds of up to 500. And while not blockbuster numbers, they are strong for an island the size of Jersey and reflect a growing passive interest as well as active fandom. People may not be especially interested in cricket, but they are interested in the fortunes of their country, with TV crews on location checking in and covering the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the players are known,\u201d says Gomersall. \u201cThey can walk into restaurants and people will know who they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the men\u2019s players even have people who will sing their songs. There\u2019s an awful lot of support willing them on.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if things carry on the way they are, it won\u2019t be long until they\u2019re singing them at the World Cup as well as at home.<\/p>\n
Photograph by Jersey Cricket<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s called Farmer\u2019s Field for a reason. \u201cIt\u2019s owned,\u201d explains Jersey Cricket chief executive Sarah Gomersall, \u201cgenuinely, by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-90485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}