Guernsey say 'pressure' is on Jersey in T20 World Cup qualifier
Guernsey have won all their group games at a T20 World Cup qualifier for the first time [ICC] Guernsey manager Rob Thomson says his side has what it takes to beat Channel Island rivals Jersey in their 2028 T20 World Cup qualifier final. The neighbouring islands will meet on Saturday in Cyprus playing to win Sub Regional Europe Qualifier A and earn a place in the final round of European qualifying next summer. Guernsey topped their five-team group with wins over Slovenia, Austria, Malta and Sweden - the first time they have won all their group matches at such a tournament.
They face neighbours Jersey who they have beaten once in each of their last two annual three-game T20 series. "I think that works for us to be honest," Thomson told BBC Guernsey. "We beat them last year, we beat them the year before, so I think if you're them [Jersey] I'm not sure they'd really fancy facing us in such a big game on neutral ground.
"All the pressure's on them, a free hit for us. We've achieved what we wanted to achieve from this and we go one step further and it will certainly be really sweet. " Guernsey reach 2028 T20 World Cup qualifying final Record-breaking Jersey make T20 World Cup Qualifier final Jersey beat Guernsey to keep T20 World Cup hopes alive Jersey got the better of Guernsey when they last faced each other in a T20 World Cup qualifying game [ICC] Guernsey reached the final round of T20 World Cup qualifying for the first time last year, but lost all their games - including a 22-run defeat by Jersey.
But Thomson says the experience his players got from facing the likes of Italy, the Netherlands and Scotland has helped strengthen the team for this year's event in Cyprus. "It's been hugely beneficial, and I think the wider fixture programme that we put on around that series as well to prepare, we played a lot of really, really tough hard cricket. "We've seen a lot of the right things during those [matches], even if we're on the wrong end of the result, so you can really tell now this group - coming into games like this - they've been clinical at times and ultimately got the four wins.
"It's not something Guernsey's ever done in this part of a qualification campaign before, so we're really, really proud of that and I think those games have just put us in a position to now be realistically a step above these other guys that we're playing, which is brilliant. "