Jersey can make T20 World Cup, says skipper Perchard

Jersey captain Charles Perchard says his side are capable of qualifying for the T20 World Cup.

The islanders won Sub Regional Europe Qualifier A in Cyprus on Saturday after a tense four-wicket win over Channel island rivals Guernsey in the final.

It meant a sixth appearances in the final stages of qualifying for the T20 World Cup for the island side.

They will compete in the European regional final next summer, taking on Italy, Scotland, the Netherlands and two more qualifiers for two places in Australia and New Zealand in 2028.

"We go again in the final round of qualifiers next summer, and fingers crossed, we can make it," Perchard told BBC Radio Jersey.

"We came so close to qualifying last time, we finished level on points with the side that did qualify, just narrowly missing out on run rate.

"It was so brutal and hard to take, but the confidence is there. The belief and certainly the ability's there."

Jersey were just a few balls away from making the 2026 T20 World Cup after finishing thrid in the final stage of European qualifying last summer.

Having narrowly lost to hosts the Netherlands, they went on to register a famous win over Scotland as well as beating Guernsey.

But a washed-out game with Italy meant the Italians progressed on net run rate to their first-ever World Cup appearances.

It comes as Jersey also have an eye on progressing in the 50-over format of the game.

They are top of ICC Challenge League A ahead of a final five-game tournament later this year.

Should they keep their place in the top two, they will make the World Cup qualifier play-off, with a good finish in that event earning One-Day International status.

"This is just the start of our World Cup journey," Perchard added.

"We needed to qualify for this. It would have been a real banana skin if we hadn't, but the focus is on some great things for us as a cricket team.

"We spoke just before about our next training block as we sort of build up to a massive end of the year in October and December.

"We're obviously an amateur side, but if we want to get to a level where we're playing semi-professionally, or professionally in some cases, strength and conditioning work is going to be a massive part of our programme over the next few months.

"So we're looking forward to really testing ourselves with that."