Guernsey hope for T20 World Cup progression after being named as qualifying hosts

Guernsey narrowly missed out on progressing from sub-regional level in 2022

Guernsey manager Rob Thomson says hosting a T20 World Cup qualifier in 2024 gives the islanders a great chance of progressing to the next round.

Guernsey will host one of the ICC's Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Qualifiers in August with the top sides moving to the final round of European qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

Ten countries will play in Guernsey at venues such as the KGV and Port Soif.

Guernsey have never progressed beyond sub-regional qualifying before.

"It's just huge for us in terms of maybe a few days off work versus 10 or 11, which naturally rules out some people from travelling if we were playing that tournament overseas," Thomson told BBC Radio Guernsey.

"We know the facilities, we're playing on pitches we'll play on for the whole year leading up to it, so it gives us a real edge."

It is the third time Guernsey has hosted European qualifying for a T20 World Cup.

In 2019 they hosted the European regional finals for the 2021 T20 World Cup which Channel Island rivals Jersey won while Guernsey came fourth.

In 2011 they jointly hosted the ICC European Twenty20 Championship Division One championships with Jersey and reached the semi-finals.

"It's great for the community, for the economy, to have fans at home and have youngsters watching and aspiring, it's perfect," Thomson added.

"We've obviously got to make sure that we can live up to it in that respect and use all of those things to our advantage, but it's huge.

"It's there at the end of August for us next year, so there's a lot there for us to build towards and it's going to be great to put a schedule together that works towards it - hopefully they can nail it and get us through to the next stage."