JERSEY’S bid to secure a berth in the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup continues tomorrow, with an opening fixture against Austria.
Neil MacRae’s side are in Scotland for the World Cup Europe Qualifier, which will see the top two teams from Jersey, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Denmark and Austria progress to the West Indies and United States for the main event.
The Islanders came fifth in their most recent World Cup Qualifier, which was in the 50-over format in Namibia.
Captain Chuggy Perchard believes that his side can lean on those experiences to help them in the shorter format.
‘The 50-over qualifier in Namibia was a great lesson for us,’ said Perchard.
‘We now have the belief that we can take some of the bigger nations down.
‘There were a lot of games in there where we created problems for teams ranked above us and we were not able to finish off those chances.
‘It is really important that we use those experiences to help deal with the pressure when the opportunities arise again.
‘We have the belief, we have the talent. We just need to get out there and do it now. All the hard work and training has been done and it’s time to really go out and put on a performance.
The Caesareans have proved that they are adaptable across different formats, however it is T20 cricket that has provided a perfect setting for the side to flourish.
They are now ranked 21st in the world and only Ireland (12th) and Scotland (14th) are seeded higher for the latter’s home tournament.
The Jersey captain said: ‘The lads play a lot of T20 cricket and I feel like a lot of the players’ skill sets are well suited towards that format.
‘We have an experienced team now and have played a lot of tournament cricket together.
‘I feel like we are in a good place to go out and upset some of the better teams like Scotland and Ireland.
‘It will be really important to beat the lower-ranked teams that we are expected to win against.’
Jersey will enter tomorrow, off the back of a pair of warm-up games against Netherlands A in Amsterdam.
They were heavily beaten in the first contest, but secured a win in the second with a superb run chase, headlined by youngsters Asa Tribe (52) and Josh Lawrenson (47) with both completing the innings with unbeaten knocks.
MacRae has also added yet more youth to his side, with Charlie Brennan, Toby Britton and Will Perchard all named in the 15-strong squad for Scotland.
Perchard believes that the ‘fearless characters’ will give his team a boost.
He said: ‘There are so many younger players coming through that are putting their hands up to play.
‘T20 is well-suited to fearless characters and we have those in abundance in Jersey.
‘It is exciting to see how young the squad is and such exciting talent breaking into the side.
‘There is that feeling that if it doesn’t happen for us this time around, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future for these guys.’
The Caesareans have a stern test if they are to progress to the T20 World Cup, but the youthful side are hungry and prepared for the challenge.
Their fate may boil down to a pair of key fixtures, the first against hosts Scotland on Friday (3.30pm) and the second against Ireland on 24 July (3.30pm).
Any Islanders wishing to follow the progress can do so, with every fixture available for streaming on ICC TV free of charge.
