JERSEY’S leading batsman admits their scintillating run towards the ICC Cricket World Cup Play-off was not expected – after having ‘a mountain to climb’ this summer.
Nick Greenwood was one of a select few who played in all 15 of Jersey’s Challenge League games, dating back to Oman in 2019, and scored a tournament-best 809 runs during their dream journey to the summit of Group B.
The Jersey-born cricketer grew up in New Zealand – where he still resides – but reconvened with head coach Neil MacRae’s squad to help secure nine wins from ten in rounds two and three, in Uganda and Jersey.
Greenwood formed a deadly rapport with fellow opener Harrison Carlyon, as the duo stepped up on several occasions to lay the foundations for the rest of the order.
His 809-run tally across the 15 games – from just 838 deliveries – was enough to top the final standings by 169, from Ugandan Ronak Patel, and he now has the prospect of a play-off appearance to look forward to.
The 22-year-old said: ‘Me and Harrison [Carlyon] have formed a very good understanding of each other’s games.
‘Batting with him was a massive part of enabling me to score the amount of runs that I did. It always felt like we knew what we were doing and the partnership has seemed to work well.
‘I’m not sure anyone could have foreseen the run we went on when we set out in Uganda. After Oman, we had a mountain to climb and Neil [MacRae] was instrumental in just taking one opponent at a time.
‘It’s easy to get caught up in the bigger picture and be overwhelmed with the task in hand [but] once we beat Uganda on home soil, it lit a fire in us and from there we just felt unstoppable.’
Jersey’s winning run came to a halt in the final game on Sunday, with defeat at the hands of Kenya, but Greenwood feels there were many contributing factors to his side’s earlier success.
‘We had such a deep batting line up,’ he said.
‘When you’re in my position, knowing there is so much talent to come in the order, it frees you up. You can attack earlier, without being worried that if you’re dismissed it will have a big impact.
‘We saw Julius [Sumerauer] and Dom [Blampied] come in late and show some great batting prowess to chase down Uganda’s total at Farmers. Not just that, the fielding effort has been outstanding too. Macca placed a huge focus on that throughout this year. We have a young and fit squad and it really does make the difference. Jonty [Jenner] and Anthony [Hawkins-Kay] especially in the inner ring against Hong Kong saved probably 20 or 30 runs and when you look back, it made the run chase more manageable for us.
‘As a squad the camaraderie is brilliant. I think compared to other teams, it’s a far more tight-knit group, where most of the lads grew up playing together all the time.
‘When you have a team like that it really does help during a long summer together. Everyone was pulling for each other to get over the line.’
