THE professionalism, efficiency and skill of Jersey cricketers has only seemed to increase after three years without inter-insular matches.
Another whitewash in the three-match Kiya.ai T20I Inter-Insular Cup series in Guernsey saw Chuggy Perchard’s men retain the trophy in almost ruthless fashion against hosts who showed some promise, but are only really at the start of a journey their visitors have been navigating for several years.
Jersey set the tone for the weekend with an efficient performance in Friday evening’s opening game at the College Field, where they eased to a 37-run victory and showed why 16 places separate the ‘nations’ in the ICC world T20I rankings.
Guernsey captain Josh Butler will have been disappointed with the amount of four-balls his attack served up in the powerplay and the visitors were ruthless in the way they cashed in.
In Matt Stokes’ first over Nick Greenwood found the rope on three occasions, with one punch through the covers followed by a clip off his legs. He finished off with a sumptuous straight drive.
Harrison Carlyon was quickly joining in the fun against Will Peatfield with his own imitation of Greenwood’s earlier forceful shot through the off-side before he was onto a short-pitched delivery in a flash and depositing it for six.
The Jersey openers went on to put on 50 for the first wicket before Guernsey eventually made the breakthrough in the final over of the powerplay, as Carlyon was unable to clear Ben Ferbrache.
Once able to spread the field, the home side began to stem the flow of runs and pick up a few more wickets.
Greenwood was bowled by Ant Stokes, for a quality 48, midway through the innings and Jonty Jenner did not last long, hitting the left-arm spinner to his brother Matt on the deep-cover boundary.
Asa Tribe, who gave a glimpse of why he is so highly-rated, followed two balls later for a run-a-ball 19 and the Greens were well back in the game.
In the final eight overs of the innings, though, momentum swung once again as Julius Sumerauer and Dom Blampied put on a fifth-wicket stand of 84 that proved decisive.
Sumerauer made 54 from just 32 balls with some sweet timing that saw him almost effortlessly clear the ropes on three occasions among his five boundaries.
Blampied was happy to give his young partner the strike, chipping in with a useful 22 as Jersey racked up 178.
That was always going to be a stern test for the Guernsey batters and, noticeably, they did not get the helping hand from loose balls in the powerplay that the Reds had.
Instead, Carlyon rattled through his four overs in double-quick time, removing the hosts’ top three in the process.
As with the first innings of the game, though, Guernsey had a promising spell with the bat as well.
Unsurprisingly, Matt Stokes was right at the centre of it as he managed to make scoring runs look relatively easy with some glorious strokes, particularly a couple of pick-ups off the pace of Sumerauer that kept the crowd both entertained and on their guard.
He received good support from Ferbrache as they added 58 before the latter top edged one to short third-man off Elliot Miles.
However, it took something sensational to remove Stokes, who had made 48 from just 27 balls, in the following over with a flying Dan Birrell providing it as he pulled off a ‘worldie’ in the covers, diving full-length to his left and clinging on to a tough chance with one hand to give Chuggy Perchard the vital wicket.
After that, Jersey turned the screw with wicketkeeper Jake Dunford taking a catch that on any other day would have been the best of the game to dismiss Ant Stokes, who was attempting to hook a Sumerauer bouncer.
Peatfield struck a couple of crisp boundaries at the death to give the crowd something to cheer, but the match had long since gone.
The action moved to the KGV on Saturday but the change of venue did not bring with it a change of fortune as far as Guernsey were concerned.
The young pairing of Carlyon and Tribe again impressed with a second-wicket stand of 84 that got Jersey on their way to posting another total in excess of eight-runs-an-over.
This time it was Carlyon who finished as top scorer, on his way to his second man-of-the-match award in as many games; hitting 56 from 38 balls.
Tribe contributed 35 while both Jenner and Sumerauer chipped in with 28 apiece.
Having been set 169 for victory, Guernsey’s reply never got going as they could not build any momentum against some tidy bowling with skipper Butler’s 24 for the biggest contribution.
With the trophy having been safely retained by the visitors, the Greens got off to a great start in game three as Ant Stokes, opening the bowling with his left-arm spin, claimed the wickets of both openers in his first eight balls.
However, the classy Tribe soon took the game away from Guernsey with a quality knock of 65 from just 32 balls with 11 fours and two sixes.
The man-of-the-match shared a third-wicket partnership of 83 with fellow half-centurion Jenner, with Jersey going on to rack up their highest total of the weekend – 185.
In reply, Guernsey did likewise as Damarell and Le Tissier showed good intent up front to put on 70 while Matt Stokes later added an unbeaten 34 as the home side reached 148/4 for their second 37-run defeat of the series.
