Keen to revisit his cricketing past, Oliver Kidman straps on some pads and heads to Walkovers, where he encounters a familiar face
WITH Jersey’s cricket season kicking off recently, I finally decided it was time to pad up and return to the crease – as All Island Media (AIM) sports editor Elliot Corbel took me along for a training session with his Walkovers CC teammates.
Cricket has long been one of Jersey’s most popular sports, with the earliest record of play on the Island going all the way back to the mid-1860s.
Some of Jersey’s cricket trophies – which are still being contested today – date back to 1921 and 1932.
Since Jersey’s first recorded international in 1813, it’s fair to say the sport has gone from strength to strength – now standing as one of Jersey’s most successful sports on the international stage, with the men’s side currently sitting at 30th in the ICC T20 rankings while the women are ranked at 35.
That doesn’t show the Island at its best however, with the men’s highest-ever ranking being 18th, while the women’s is 21st in the T20 format.
Even with the high rankings under their belts, there’s no sign of Jersey slowing down any time soon. The Caesareans’ World Cup qualifying campaign got off to a perfect start over the weekend with a nine-wicket thrashing of Switzerland followed by a 52-run win over Cyprus.
Given Jersey’s cricket scene is at a high, why not make a comeback? Who knows, I might still have something to offer with the bat…
Let’s find out more
In its simplest form, cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11, with each either batting or bowling at one time. Two batters are on the pitch at any one time, while the other team fields their full 11.
The goal of the bowling team is to get each batter out through the 11 forms of dismissal – bowled, caught, run out, stumped, leg before wicket, hit wicket, timed out, obstructing the field, hit the ball twice, handling the ball or being retired out.
On the other side, the batters are focused on hitting as many runs as possible within the allotted overs – a set of six deliveries. Once either all the overs are bowled or all the batters are dismissed, the innings is concluded and the teams swap over – with the team now batting required to chase the score of the first innings.
That there is a very basic explanation of the game of cricket – there’s so much more to the game, but we’d be here all day otherwise.
Cricket is a sport steeped in history, and is known to have begun in England in the late 16th century. Since its humble beginnings, cricket has boomed to become the world’s second most-popular sport, with more than 2.5 billion from across the world following the sport.
That popularity has certainly spread to Jersey, as Corbel went on to break down the local scene: “Local cricket is really popular – it’s one of the highest-participated sports on the Island, from juniors right through to the seniors.
“There are four premier sides who compete in the men’s premier division, taking part in a variety of formats, including: 40-over white ball, T20 (20 overs) and the 45-over Channel Island League, which is exciting, as you get to compete against different opposition in the three Guernsey club sides.
“Then, you have Division 1, which has five teams in its 40-over league, as well as six competing in the T20. Division 2 also has 35-over and T20 leagues, with eight teams in the former and nine in the latter.
“There’s also all the evening leagues – five teams contest the Premier Evening League, while another seven play in the Evening Championship – which is really popular throughout the week.”
The different divisions display a great range of skill and ability, as Corbel continued:
“Although there’s a fair bit of cross-over between the divisions, it does range. A fair few of the Jersey international players are overseas, so the standard naturally drops a touch when they’re away – but, premier cricket is really competitive.
“Division 1 is also very competitive, as there’s some really evenly balanced sides there, with a mix of handy cricketers among slightly older players and talented youngsters coming through. Then there’s Division 2 – I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a ‘developmental’ league, but it’s excellent for development.
“The gulf from Division 2 to the Premier Division will be big, but, naturally in any structure, the job of that league structure is to bring those players – especially the younger ones – through Division 2, Division 1 and help make them confident and skilful enough to carry on and hopefully become established Premier cricketers, as well as foster a love for the game.”
For the high-level of competitiveness Jersey’s cricket scene brings, there’s still something for everyone, as Corbel, who is a wicket-keeper batter for Walkovers 1st XI, described the game’s social element.
“All the teams have thriving social XIs – my club, Walkovers, do it brilliantly, as they have their first team, second team and then three teams split across the second division.
“Evening leagues are a great example of the more social side of the game, as the crash-bang-wallop on week nights at FB Fields and Les Quennevais is great fun.
“The general camaraderie of a cricket dressing room is unique – it’s a weird game – it’s a team sport made up of individual performances, but, there’s a real community feel around all the clubs. Everyone gathers together for a beer after the game, so it’s a very social activity in that sense.”
As someone who’s gone through all age groups of cricket in Jersey, Corbel delved into his own experiences to detail what goes behind Jersey’s success in the sport.
“I suppose it starts with the success of the Jersey International sides – the men just missed out on the T20 2026 World Cup and the women’s side are doing really good things as well, meaning that both are almost there,” said Corbel.
“The player pool just continues to grow throughout the age groups, who are given opportunities to play abroad every year against European competition.
“When I was coming through the age groups, getting those opportunities to play abroad were so beneficial for my development, as you get to expand on the Island’s slightly smaller player pool.
“We have great facilities over here – adding a lane to Grainville’s nets has been a great step forward, FB have revamped their nets and there’s also the nets at Le Quennevais. The standard of coaching over here is excellent, as well.”
After being involved in the game for so many years as a player, coach, official and commentator, Corbel reflected on what’s kept him engaged with the game for so long, saying: “I am a bit obsessed with the game – it’s been my great love my whole life. Really, it’s those great days that keep you coming back – you have a day when everything hits the middle of the bat, or the ball comes out of your hand just perfectly.
“I’ve been playing senior cricket for about 15 years now and I’ve probably only had about three or four of those days, at a push,” Corbel added with a chuckle.
“It’s a hard game – you have to keep yourself mentally prepared to deal with failure more often than not, which can be a difficult headspace to get to grips with.”
Given the sport’s big local popularity, it’s easy to get started, as Corbel explained: “It’s dead simple to make a start – the basis of the game is just to either bowl, catch or hit a ball, everyone can hit something. Then, you can contact Jersey Cricket, who will put you in the right direction, or contact any of the clubs via their socials.
“The clubs are always more than happy for people to get in touch, and they’re always keen to accommodate and open spots up for new players.”
Corbel then left a humorous parting message for those thinking about joining the game, as he concluded: “If you enjoy celebrating misery with a bunch of other blokes, who will cheers their glasses with you and deal with it in humour, then this is the sport for you.”
Time to get to the crease
Now, after at least six years of inactivity in cricket, now was the time to test myself and see if I still had anything to offer on the skills front. Could I still hit the ball? Could I still bowl an accurate delivery? Those were hard enough in my playing days, so my expectations were on the floor heading into this session.
I was greeted by c handing me a spare Walkovers shirt of his (big apology to my former team Farmers CC, there was no getting around it). As Corbel was already padded up to bat,
I snatched at the opportunity to bowl – I tried to offer a wager for a wicket, but he wouldn’t accept, was he scared?
Apparently not, as my first bowl was a no-ball – apparently, I literally “threw” it at him.
Sorry, but I still stand that it was a legal bowl, but that’s fine – I’ll show him how it’s done on the next one.
I may have talked a big game ahead of this session, so the pressure was on to make an impression as I ran up for the second bowl. To say it felt rusty would have been an understatement and the result was much worse – it dragged so wide it barely made it into the net – what a disaster.
I saw that diabolical attempt as high time to step away from bowling, as it clearly wasn’t meant for me. So, I bowed out of the last few bowls and readied myself for a batting session.
Here, I was taught the “first lesson” of playing cricket, which was “to carry your own kit” according to Elliot, so I essentially became his caddy for our trip to the nets, carrying his very heavy bag before facing a bowling machine for the first time since my school days.
I always was more of a batter and, after being told I “looked the part”, my confidence grew.
But, that was about as good as it got, unfortunately, as I seemingly became allergic to making any contact with the ball – I think I hit about three balls out of 20, and that was lucky at best.
At least I provided some entertainment for Corbel – he could barely hold in his laughter behind the camera. I fear this unimpressive display has given him some ammunition in the office for the next couple of weeks, so I’d better be careful.
I would like to say a big thank-you to Walkovers CC and to Elliot Corbel for allowing me to join in – this may have been a big wake-up call, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
