Jersey looking for internationally experienced cricket head coach for women's national team

Jersey are among the top 30 T20 sides in the world

Jersey are hoping to bring in an internationally experienced coach to take over their women's national side.

The island's women's team is ranked 28th in the world and came third in their qualifier for the 2024 T20 World Cup last summer.

The new appointment will take over from Lee Meloy, who has become Jersey's head of cricket operations.

The new head coach would also be responsible for the Jersey Under-19 women's side and youth development.

"We ideally want someone who can bring experience of playing or coaching at an international level, ideally somebody who's been through ICC or other competitive cricketing events," Jersey Cricket's chief executive Sarah Gomersall told BBC Sport.

"Someone who really knows the challenges the players will face, both on and off the field, and can help our players deal with those and can use their own experience to avoid some of those things even coming up.

"The women's game has progressed enormously over recent years, there's now more and more coaches available from within the set up, so we're hoping that potential coaches out there will look at this role and think there's a really brilliant platform here for them to get hold of and build upon."

Lee Meloy (right) will be stepping back from coaching the women's side

Gomersall is keen to praise the work of Meloy, who coached Jersey's women alongside other roles at Jersey Cricket.

In his time in charge the women's game in the island has grown substantially.

"Back in 2019 Jersey Cricket only had one senior women's team, now we have six," she said.

"The number of players playing at junior levels has grown from 58 girls, aged between seven and 16, to 106 and that's still growing.

"We want the women's head coach to come in and continue to build the number of girls playing and encourage people into the game and help them fall in love with cricket and be our future players and stars."

A new cycle of ICC tournaments starts in 2024, with Jersey not playing in any major events until the senior women begin T20 World Cup qualifying in 2025.

The following year the under-19 side will start their quest to make their World Cup.

"That gives a full year for a new coach to come in to work with Lee and have an effective handover, get to know everybody, start to build on individual performance plans, and set ourselves up for 2025, which is when the qualification timeline starts," added Gomersall.

"There's no reason with the potential we've got and the right coach, and building on the work that Lee and his team have done, there's no reason at all why we can't have a team in the Women's Under-19 World Cup in 2027."