No 11 batsman Jake Dunford, a Durham University bowler, ran for his life for the final single, as UK protectorate Jersey stunned Scotland notching a one-wicket victory on the last ball to get into contention for a place at the T20 World Cup for the first time.
However, it wasn’t to be for the tiny island off the coast of north-west France. Had Italy beaten the Netherlands in the second match of the day, not only would have mama mia! rung out through the cricketing world, but little Jersey, just Jersey, would’ve jumped to second in the standings and thus sealed qualification to the T20 World Cup in Idnia next year.
Jersey, formally Bailiwick of Jersey, is a crown dependency and are nicknamed Jer Lions. They are coached by former Yorkshire cricketer Paul Hutchinson, who previously coached Sweden. Their fellow Channel island is Guernsey, who also played in the tournament.
Scotland scored 133-7 with 43 from Cross 43 as top score, but Jersey scampered home on the back of Ben Greenwood’s 49.
Jersey captain Charles Perchard told ICCTV, as per BBC, “The next few hours is potentially life defining for some of our guys, but there’s nothing really we can do about it except to enjoy our victory.”
“Years of graft and hard work and some real disappointments all led up to this moment and we’re delighted. We’ve never beaten a side as good as Scotland before, so there was definitely some nerves in the camp. The coaches were trying to tell us to stay level and maybe we did, maybe we didn’t, but we got over the line in the end,” the gleeful skipper said.
Wickets had kept tumbling and two desperate run-outs added to the drama before Ben Ward smacked a massive six in the second last over. The next time he swung, a fantastic catch from Brendan McMullen stopped him.
Story continues below this ad
Perchard and Dunford, Nos 10 and 11 were left with five runs to get from four balls, and the win when it came led to delirious scenes.
Scottish skipper Richie Berrington was devastated. “Unfortunately, we put ourselves under a lot of pressure early in that first innings and a lot of credit has to go to Jersey the way they played the game. They’ve played good cricket throughout this tournament and we knew we were going to have to be at our best today. Unfortunately, we were slightly off and couldn’t quite get over the line in the end. But I’m proud of the way we managed to take it to the last ball in the game,” he said.
Scotland, who lost to Italy and had their game with Guernsey washed out, had a downer of a batting day going from 13-3 and 64-6 before Matthew Cross (43 not out) and Mark Watt (28) salvaged their show.
The Scottish bowlers had parried off asking run rate but Jersey would not be denied.
Story continues below this ad
Jersey who started in Division Five if World Cricket League in 2008, had beaten US that year but lost to Afghanistan. They had repeatedly lost to Italy in semis of European T20 Cups.
