Tournament Website - Click Here

Past Tournament Websites

2007 - Div 2

2008 - Div 1

2009 - Div 1

2010 - Div 1, Jersey U15's (J)-lost by 17 runs,  Jersey U14's (CF)-won by 44 , Denmark-Won by 6 wkts ,Netherlands - Won by 3 wkts , Scotland - Match abandoned , Scotland - Lost by 4 wkts , Ireland - Lost by 7 wkts, Dorset - Won by 6 wkts,

Tournament Blog - Day 1

By Kit Betley & Dominic Rice

Well. Today, after a rather extended sleep we gathered at the airport at 6:10 for a 7:10 departure. After the usual comically slow check-in, we loaded our luggage and boarded the plan e. The hour flight across the channel was pretty standard and involved minimal talking and maximum sleeping. We arrived at Southampton only to be herded onto the plane to Edinburgh-although not before we were able to raid the stocks in the WHSmiths, mainly Nuts magazines and lucazades!

The next flight began with a race to the plane in two terminus buses ending in a dead heat. We eventually took off after a rather elongated ramble from the pilot about," how he thought we appeared like well-seasoned travellers, but still must listen attentively to the air hostesses". Then mid-flight, then the inevitable was revealed, our room partners. Dom bunking with Andy Oxburgh, and myself ( Kit ) sharing my humble abode with none other than Alex Bushell ( nicknames incl; Bush, Raging Inferno, Cushelle and many others ).

We left the plane, to collect our bags, although some of us had to wait a little longer - try 30 minutes! Meanwhile, we greeted wary travellers returning home, some more receiving than others. After a short interlude, we boarded the coach only to be followed by the Netherlands team. Then the music began- us with Adele, and them with Techno -and it didn't stop until we arrived in Stirling. When we arrived in deepest Scotland-an hour out of Edinburgh-we were greeted by the friendly logo of Holiday Inn. 

This was followed once again by more waiting. After a few generations of waiting on the sofa where we write this blog, we were all allowed into our rooms, where we hastily unpacked our bags and discovered the television remote. Although to Ray's disgust, there was no Sky Sports 3 in which he could watch the Kent game.

This next period was filled with mooching, scrutinising the grounds and catching up on a bit of slip catching! When left to our own devices, we discovered Stirling Albion had gained a 1-0 lead over East Fife, much to the delight of fellow players Luke and Jordan, " COMMON MY SON!!".

Day 2

By James Wilkes-Green and Kit Betley

Weather forecast for Stirling, Stirlingshire,Scotland:monday-heavy rain   Tuesday-scattered showers    Wednesday-light rain      Thursday- heavy rain    Friday-thunder showers       Saturday-Heavy rain showers

           The weather forecast for this week seems to be all to familiar with the Stirling locals rain, rain, rain and guess what?More rain.With the matches cancelled at as early as 9 o clock this morning, we were left with a day of roaming the streets of Stirling. With Ray still lamenting the unfortunate result of his beloved Kent the night before,which was worsened by the Scotish not having discovered Sky Sports,NOT IMPRESSED!This queued even more financial difficulity for the ever strugging club, spirits seemed to be running low inside camp Bushell -Kent lose,knocked out of the T20 cup, cricket cancelled.

            With the arrival of the disappointing but sadly inevitable news delivered to us by none other that 2009 seasons World Cricket league LEADING run scorer @whitetendulkar   https://twitter.com/#!/whitetendulkar  HRH Jeremy Frith an emergency team meeting was hastily organised to try and make the most of our cricketless day.Twas decided that a visit into the unfortunately unappealing Stirling megacity centre was the pinnacle of our day.We begun our hike to the urban area at approx 10.00 hrs.It was long a weary trek lead by brilliant power walker Luke Le Tissier with Shale Mc Hale nipping at his heels.When we arrived at the monstrosity our plans to have a pool tournament were scuppered by the  closure of Rileys pool hall.So, we set about looking for alternatives and the rather large shopping centre lurking across the  road was the obvious choice but not in Ray's mind.To the best of his knowledge the centre only had 3 shops and was certainly not worth a visit.Lukily our persistence prevailed and we fought our way into the centre and we were instantly greeted by a rather obvious and large sign staring over 90 shops were spread around the centre with the inevitable jeers of "good one Ray!".We spent 1.5 hours discovering everything the centre had to offer from 'Gers shorts to £2 Primark tees.

After visiting the city centre, the train station was our next stop.Frithy decided to exercise his haggling skills ready for the days of future rain and a potential journey into Edinburgh, twas successful.Score!!!!Our journey then took a turn for the better with the news that we were heading off to the cricket ground for a free buffet, twas a big hit with the Le Tissiers amongst us.Over the lunch we were greeted with the circumspect news that we would be viewing Braveheart that afternoon as purchased by Coach Belton from HMV for £8.This turned out to be a success with the majority of us, others deciding to discover the phone game bounce, which proved to be a big hit.To us, that smacks of desperate measures.Nethertheless we sat through 3 hours of Scotish drama in a nice hot and sweaty conference room.Lovely!

Following the conclusion of the film, we were left to our own devices. Despite hotel ball games being banned, there have since been reports from the Western media of scintillating mini cricket test matches taking place in Scottish hotel bedrooms....Surely not?

Finally, we have to mention the blessing of the last few hours delivered to JCB's finest Peter Gough, while out running with Jeremy Frith, Spanish Paparazzi landed the star capture of the two fin athletes in their prime.The blessing came when Peter Gough suddenly appeared out of nowhere in a Guernsey shirt, a picture just released by the Spaniard. A statement has not yet been released by the JCB (not the tractor).

DAY 3

By Toby Belton, Josh Butler and Kit Betley (again)

As we arose from our slumber, eager for breakfast, we donned the guernsey greens preparing for a quest to the Wallace Monument led by William's ancestor, Luke Le Tissier ( Taking the film he watched yesterday to heart.)

After the downpours of the previous day, play seemed unlikely and with 5 minutes until the departure to the wallace monument a sudden meeting was called and 2009 world cricket league highest runscorer Jeremy Frith and Tim Belton were beckoned to the bat-cave. During the meeting the weather forecast and current pitch conditions were discussed and the idea of a t20 tournament suddenly loomed over us-much to the delight of Betley and Oxburgh. It was then discussed and we realised that there may be the possibility of a match for us today with a new tournament beginning. Much to luke's(wallace's) dismay the monument quest was abandoned- a bit like the cricket so far. After an hour of discussion amongst the board and a trip to nandos for a select committee, Belton and 2009 world cricket league highest run scorer Jeremy Frith returned to the cave for the news on the possible change in tournament format. Despite much enthusiasm for a t20 format it was decided that the tournament would remain a 45 over competition and we would continue with our rest day. So it was planned during the team meeting that we would go to the ground for an intense fielding and net session in preparation for the big matches to come.

We began the session with a thorough warm up led by wallace himself, so strenuous that sam hale required a zimmer frame to continue. We then took the ladders out to practice some fast footwork incase such a situation arose in a match. This was proceeded by a fielding based competition involving racing to the ball and throwing the ball into the gloves. It went to the wire and was 9-9 when betley faced martel in the decider and betel stepped up to the plate and pulled out a majestic flick(with an extended dive) to steal the title. With the fielding practice concluded and betley's team in awe the team moved onto the nets to sharpen up on the fundamentals.

After a long time waiting, the team were glad to get out and train, and did not miss the opportunity to get in some practice. Whilst in the nets the other matches in the tournament began at the ground at 4.30pm with a reduced format of 30 overs. We observed the matches keenly hoping to get some information on the enemy. During this process we discussed many factors that may impact upon the game including wind direction, boundary sizes and the speed of the outfield. These were then discussed later this evening in more detail during the team meeting which took place after dinner during which a brave couple tried haggis including betley, wilkes-green and shale.

A special mention must go to Joshua Paul Butler who turned 15 today and received his present which was carefully selected during the previous days shopping trip. Josh also received a loud chorus of HAPPY BIRTHDAY during breakfast. Joshua quotes,"I feel touched by the generosity and friendship of the rather supportive group!"

DAY 4

By Jordon Martel, Andrew Gordon Oxburgh and Kit Betley 

In the words of Matthew Stokes,"the day began sluggishly". Another early wake-up and the team took a little while to realise today may involve some kind of cricket!? Breakfast began in a similar manner to the other days and was followed by a brisk gathering of cricket bags and a hasty stroll to the ground. We claimed our territory in the changing room and then had a rather light warm-up, led by Bosh Jutler-done on purpose. We began with any individual training we required before moving on the group work.

The toss was won by the majestic flicking abilities of el capitano Toby Belton, the toss was called by Dominic Blampied, incorrectly might i add. Guernsey were batting. James and Toby strode out to bat, confidence high with an average of 70 runs for the first wicket this season. The first wicket fell after 50 runs of elegant strokes. 

The score continued to rise, for the loss of only a single wicket. At the first drinks break we had reached 54-1, and the second we were at 130-3. All looked very good for Guernsey until a few quick fire wickets and then the score resided on 172-8. But thanks to a majestic six from Alex Bushell and a courageous innings, we finished the game on a very confident 207-9.

The fielding innings began well for Guernsey as well, getting Jersey 2-22. But a solid innings from Corbel with 52 meant that at the second drinks brake, Jersey were on 117-4, far to close to the total for Guernsey's liking. But Guernsey replied with 4 wickets, leaving Jersey 169-8. They were only able to score 12 more runs before Guernsey finished them off 26 runs short.

After the victory we were all in high spirits but deep down we knew we hadn't played as well as we could have done and after the game we had a talk about how we could improve for games later in the week. This victory saw Guernsey move in to second place and left us a solid start for the rest of the tournament. 

DAY 6

By Tom Veillard, Ryan Harris

Once again, another early wake up for the team, only to be told "no play today". So instead of going for a warm up and eventually play a match, we decided to travel to Edinburgh.

We made our way to the train station and purchased our tickets, then boarded the next train to the capital of Scotland. On the train we saw some familiar things like Murrayfield and flooded fields! We arrived as the rain began again and decided to make our way to the nearest shopping centre to buy some brollies. Then we split into groups to discover the diversity of activities going on in Edinburgh. One group headed for Topman, while one group followed Luke to see him record his own XFactor CD. The Topman squad was lead by no other than Kit and Oxi. Kit bringing out his manly side by purchasing a gray causual blazer. Whilst Oxi on the other hand went all out to spend his cash and more. Oxi buying chinos and some trousers raked up the receipt and then needing to borrow money putting him in dept with raging inferno, josh and kit. 

We all regrouped for lunch to find that the squad was split up into different groups. One group heading to an all you can eat Chinese restaurant for £7 found by no other than Feremy Drith. Another group went to subway whilst the other group went to a posh restaurant. After we had all stuffed ourselves we all met up and headed to a 4d earth thingy and learnt how the earth was formed by going through a real time machine. 

After several hours of intense learning, we headed off to the Royal Mile where the Edinburgh Festival was. As we arrived we could not wait to emerse ourselves in the culture provided. But Dom had to ruin our fun and get sick of the Chinese lunch, so we had to wait around collecting leaflets for half an hour. Then when Dom decided he was a man, we continued on our quest to watch a variety of comedians and magicians. But the most fun of all was putting on accents and confusing officials. It seemed there responce was to offer us alcohol, but as real men we declined.