Jersey 'will learn' from World Cup qualifying losses

Jersey finished third in the six-team group, four points behind second-placed Germany

Jersey head coach Darren Thomas said his side's young players will learn from their failure to reach the next stage of qualifying for the T20 World Cup.

The island's women - who were the second-highest ranked side in the six-team event in Rome - finished third after three defeats from their five games.

It meant they were unable to win promotion from European Division Two of the World Cup qualifiers for the second successive campaign.

Jersey lost their opening two matches against Italy and Germany - who went on to qualify - before being defeated by Sweden in their final game on Thursday.

In particular, Jersey's top order batters struggled at times, but Thomas said the exposure they got over the week will be beneficial for their careers.

"We can't forget these girls are young. They are young in cricketing experience and they're young in age as well," he told BBC Sport.

"They've had experience of Jersey cricket for a little while, but ultimately in cricketing terms they're not particularly experienced, so putting on a lot of ownership on their wickets, they've got to manage a lot of pressure.

"They either manage it freely or they struggle sometimes to soak it up, and on a couple of occasions in this tournament they struggled to soak it up, but on a couple of occasions they played freely and brilliantly."

He added: "You're talking about two 19-year-olds, one 18-year-old, and a 20-year-old in the top four.

"Every cricketing experience for these girls is essentially going to benefit them in the years to come.

"I still think you're going to see their best cricket in maybe two to three years' time where they're more mature in their ways, they're more educated in the game, and they're making more calculated decisions in the middle, because they've certainly got the appetite to play the game, that's for sure."