World Cricket League Division Five: Jersey focused on promotion

Jersey's cricketers have yo-yoed between Divisions Four and Five of the World Cricket League

Jersey coach Neil MacRae says his players are focused on winning promotion from World Cricket League Division Five in May.

The island hosts the tournament this year, having won it when it was last played in Malaysia in 2014.

Jersey went on to be relegated from World Cricket League Division Four later in 2014.

"What we're thinking about is getting up to World League Four and that's our sole focus," MacRae told BBC Jersey.

"It's exciting times now that we've got a settled squad with a lot of young players and a big tournament at home."

The island's last tournament was the ICC World Twenty20 qualifying tournament, where the island finished second-from-bottom of their group.

But MacRae feels the experience of playing against the best non-Test-playing nations will stand his side in good stead.

"We've got the potential to move forward through the divisions," he said.

"Because of the nature of the tournament cricket that we play, we don't like to look too far ahead. We think we've got a strong squad going into Division Five - we want to win that tournament and move to Division Four.

"Division Three is a possibility. We played against sides in Division One during the T20 tournament in Ireland last summer and held our own, so the difference in standard isn't necessarily the only factor, timing's a big issue as well in terms of having your full squad at tournaments."