Scotland shock puts Jersey firmly on cricket map

Jersey's win over Scotland was their first over a top-15 ranked side in the world

"This morning somebody asked me where Jersey was," says the island cricket side's captain Charles Perchard.

After Friday's last-ball win over Scotland, there will be few in the sport who can fail to have heard of the tiny Channel Island.

But for hosts Netherlands beating Italy by nine wickets on Friday evening, Jersey - with its population of just over 100,000 - would have been heading to India and Sri Lanka next February to take on the globe's best in the T20 World Cup.

Despite the disappointment of missing out after finishing third behind Italy on net run rate in the ICC T20 World Cup Europe qualifying group, Jersey know they are capable of mixing it with the big boys.

"We lost a nail-biter to the Dutch - they chased our score with three balls to go," Perchard told BBC Sport.

"Time and time again when we've been coming up the gears to play against these better sides, we've rubbed shoulders with them very well.

"We've caused some scares - we could have beaten Zimbabwe when they were at home, in Scotland we blew another tight run chase against them.

"That win today shows we can do it and the belief will be there for the guys so that hopefully next time we've got a tight run chase, we will know we've been there before, we've done it before and we can do it again."

Charles Perchard has been Jersey's captain since 2017

Since last year Jersey have been led by director of cricket Paul Hutchison.

The former Yorkshire, Sussex and Middlesex player had previously been part of Denmark's coaching set-up and was able to bring his expertise from England plus experience of the international game in Europe.

"It's nice to get the monkey off the back of beating somebody inside the top 15," said Hutchison, who also toured with England's 'A' side.

"You can see what it meant to the boys who have been around for eight or 10 years. I think it gives them real belief they can go and do something on the bigger stage.

"What they've been doing over the last 10 years is they've been developing and building towards this.

"Once you've done it, it becomes easier, so our hope and belief is that we can play at that stage."

Harrison Carlyon has been one of Jersey's leading players in The Hague, taking six wickets in three games and scoring 89 runs in total.

He was first picked for Jersey's senior team as a 15-year-old in 2016, and nine years later has become one of the most experienced players in the side - spending last winter playing cricket in Australia.

"We've gotten so close in the past to beating a fair few of these sides - but we've always thought we can turn them over," Carlyon said.

"So the fact we've done it now, whenever we play them in the future there's no reason for us to not think that we can go and beat any of these sides.

"We're a strong side and we've shown that today."