Cover Point's Jersey correspondent, Mark Saralis, reflects on Jersey's participation in WCL Division 4 

So we won’t be cheering Jersey on in the next Cricket World Cup as an eventful week has seen their World Cup dreams evaporate in the African heat.

Prior to the commencement of the tournament the team had legitimate hopes of getting to the final and securing one of the top two places in the group, which would have been enough to book a ticket to Argentina in February to compete for a place in the play off’s. It was not to be however, and from an opening day defeat to the hosts Tanzania, things got progressively worse, and they actually ended up bottom of the league of six nations, with only a win against Fiji to show for their endeavors.

The highs of the summer seemed a distant memory as reports of the teams opening two defeats reached our ears, and by the middle of the week it was evident that all was not well in the camp. Peter Kirsten’s honeymoon period with the squad came to an abrupt end, and as things got tough it was apparent that he wasn’t prepared to stick with the squad through thick and thin, and his premature departure didn’t really come as much surprise. A bigger surprise was the announcement of several  players that followed.

Steve and Tony Carlyon decided that age had finally caught up with them and retired from International cricket, in doing so severing the final links to the all conquering sides of the 90’s and when, after the final match, skipper Matty Hague followed suit, it appeared that the team was in disarray.

It certainly marks the end of an era but there are plenty of youngsters ready to fill their shoes, and it is now up to the next generation to continue the progress of it’s predecessors. This tournament may have seen the team take a step back but it had already taken giant strides forward over the year, so it remains a very exciting time for the squad and a challenge any self respecting young cricketer should be relishing. 

I haven’t heard the team make excuses for their performances in Tanzania, which is to their credit, and I don’t like to harp on about the apparent advantage enjoyed by the side batting first, but it is hard to ignore the fact that they did enjoy a staggering success rate. Sixteen of the eighteen (89%) games played were won by the team batting first, and unsurprisingly, the teams that batted first most often ended up first and second. They were however considered the strongest teams prior to the tournament, so maybe games just went to form.

Perhaps the matches in which teams played each other twice, where each team batted first, would help prove or disprove the theory.  Afghanistan beat Hong Kong on both occasions they played each other, winning more comfortably when batting second, as did Italy against Fiji, indicating that there was no particular bias, but Fiji did manage to reverse the form with Jersey, when they batted first.

The table below shows the correlation between batting first and wins in the tournament,  and is almost identical to the final finishing positions, before the play off’s, with only the top two, out of sync.

Team                                        Bat first            Wins

Hong Kong n                               5                      4

Afghanistan                                  4                      5

Italy                                             2                      3

Tanzania                                      2                      1

Jersey                                          1                      1

Fiji                                               1                      1

Using a primitive calculation, using my Grade E Maths O‘levels smarts, which theoretically negates the apparent bias indicated by the winning percentage of teams batting first, the results of the matches before the final day play offs have been recalculated, and the results displayed in the table below.

                        P          W        L          pts

Afghanistan       5          4          1          8

Hong Kong      5          3          2          6

Italy                  5          3          2          6

Jersey               5          2          3          4

Tanzania           5          2          3          4

Fiji                   5          1          4          2

Which ever way you look at it Afghanistan were the best team, and their 4 wicket victory over Hong Kong, when they batted second and successfully chased down 203, was probably the performance of the tournament. Jersey though, could have had two wins, one against Tanzania the other against Italy, and may well have beaten Fiji, although the figures just indicate a narrow loss. Still they, may well have managed to retain their place in the division had they managed to bat first on a couple more occasions.

Despite the disappointment, the whole experience has surely been a great thing for the Island, and has certainly put Jersey on the International cricket map. For the players this year will be a never to be forgotten experience, with so many high’s, and any shame they feel at coming bottom in Tanzania, is surely heavily outweighed by the pride they should feel after their performances of the summer when crowds, unseen before at a cricket matches in Jersey, were able to enjoy and share in their success.

This year’s tournaments have certainly created, for me anyway, an interest in the lower levels of world cricket, and I will certainly be following Afghanistan and Hong Kong’s progress in Argentina in February.

Mark Saralis

 

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