Jersey aim for ODI status and T20 World Cup place

Jersey hope their men's side can achieve One-Day International status and qualify for a World Cup in the next three years.

The island's cricket authorities have released their strategic plan for the sport up until 2029.

Jersey narrowly missed out on making this year's T20 World Cup - but are top of their group as they aim to reach the latter stages of qualifying for the 50-over Cricket World Cup next year.

"We have to dream big and we have to think we have a place at a World Cup in the T20 format," Jersey Cricket's chief executive Sarah Gomersall told BBC Jersey.

"We can sustain ourselves up there with the very, very best in Europe - we're competing regularly against Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, we're holding our own and each time we play them we're learning, we're improving.

"I think that's absolutely where we can sustain our level, where we should be wanting to be.

"There's going to be a European nations launch hopefully which would be the likes of Italy, Scotland, Ireland, maybe the ECB, we're not too sure about that, but Jersey players collectively can compete at that level and I think that's where we need to be aiming and showing and proving that we deserve to be there."

Jersey's men will head to Kenya next month for the final round of matches in ICC Challenge League A.

Should they finish in the top two - they lead the table with five games to go - they would progress to the 2027 Cricket World Cup qualifier play-off.

A good performance in that subsequent tournament would be rewarded with ODI status, while a top-four finish would secure passage to the final round of qualifying for the Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia next autumn.

"Achieving ODI status is one of our goals through the next iteration of our strategic plan," Gomersall added.

"I think we can get to a World Cup in the next three years with the men and, longer term, with the women as well.

"We talk about it a lot that all Jersey's talent comes from the island, so we have to have a process, an infrastructure, training systems, academies and facilities that support the junior cricket development and to give people on the island every best chance to achieve their potential.

"I think we have one of the best junior pathways in Europe, and that's all about keeping that pipeline of players playing, improving, enjoying their cricket and wanting to play more.

"The more cricket you play the better you get and then that will just feed into the next teams we have representing the island, and that's where our next World Cup squad will come from."

Jersey's men are ranked 29th in the ICC T20 rankings while the women's side are 32nd.

But the island's women have been one place off getting to the top tier of European qualifying for a T20 World Cup for the past two tournaments.

"We'd like to see them breaking into the top 25 of the ICC rankings and holding their own in that position," Gomersall said of the island's women's side.

"We'd also like to see them sustaining their position in Division Two, or whatever the equivalent of that is within the ICC pathway structure."

She added: "I think the potential we've got in our existing team of women cricketers and in the pipeline of junior cricketers that we've got in the girls playing cricket is genuinely exciting.

"We've got a new group of players if you like, where they're choosing cricket as their first choice sport.

"People can play a lot of sport in Jersey, it's a very active island and it's very pleasing that people are choosing to play cricket for the first time, and that's coming through in the growth of girls' cricket now."

Jersey's highest-profile player, Glamorgan and England Lions batter Asa Tribe, came up through the island's pathway system.

Meanwhile, Grace Wetherall has become the first woman from the island to be picked for a franchise side after agreeing to join Vancouver Anchors in the 10-over Canada Super60 event.

Gomersall hopes the island can continue to produce more players of that calibre, with plans for a new indoor cricket centre at Grainville set to be submitted soon.

With the island unable to rely on diaspora players - players not born in a country but with ancestral or family ties there - like some of their rival nations, Gomersall says investing in coaching and facilities is paramount.

"We're very hopeful we can get the planning permission for that [Grainville] secured quickly," she added.

"It falls into the bigger picture of Jersey cricket being able to sustain itself as a high-performance cricket centre.

"If we want to compete consistently across junior cricket, club cricket and on an international level we need to have specialist facilities on site.

"We need to be able to do that here at Grainville and that's one of our strategic aims."