Jersey

History of cricket in Jersey

The earliest records of cricket in Jersey show that the game was played from the mid-1860s onwards. The Jersey Island Cricket Club was formed in 1922 and the first visitors of real note were the MCC in 1924. Apart from the period of both World Wars, cricket has been played in Jersey for almost 150 years. Some Jersey cricket trophies date back to 1921 and 1932 and are still being played for today.

1996 saw the formation of the Channel Islands Cricket Board, which became part of the ECB. The development of cricket that took place during this period saw both Jersey and Guernsey seeking additional competition for their players. This was not available within the ECB and, with their blessing, membership of the ICC as an Affiliate member was sought and achieved in 2005. The Jersey Cricket Board (JCB) was formed in order to facilitate this. Jersey recently became the 33rd country to be granted Associate membership of the ICC.

International competition

To date, Jersey has competed in two ICC competitions – the European Division 2 Championship in Scotland in 2006 where we were runners-up and the European U19 Division 2 Championship, which was hosted in Jersey in 2007 and which Jersey won. In March 2007, Jersey also took part in a bilateral series against Italy, winning the series 2-0. Jersey won the 2007 European U23 Division 2 Championship in Guernsey and will host and take part in World Cricket League Division 5 in 2008.

Domestic competition

There are 32 clubs on the Island, some of which run up to four teams to include weekend, evening and indoor cricket. The Weekend League consists of two divisions, the Evening League has three divisions and the Indoor League has two divisions. In addition, there is a successful under 13 league which has six clubs. Players compete locally for the Senior Cup, the Minor Cup, the Jersey Evening Post Brighter Cricket Cup and the S.E. Guy Memorial Trophy. In addition, teams finishing in the top four positions in the Jersey Weekend Premier Division compete against the top four Guernsey teams for the Channel Island Club Championship. There are also inter-insular matches held annually between Jersey and Guernsey.

Development program

Jersey has a good development program with all coaching carried out by fully qualified coaches. Children aged seven to 18 are involved in coaching programmes with winter coaching from December through to early April and elite coaching of selected players in age group squads taking place from January to March. The Coaching in Schools programme is available to all schools in the summer term and there is an annual summer school, which takes place in July/August. The JCB also runs community coaching schemes during school and half-term holidays. In addition, the board also runs coach, scorer and umpire education programmes.