Guernsey cricket 'needs more state school players'

Guernsey Cricket's new cricket development manager says getting more state schools involved in the sport will help the island side.

Former Surrey women's player Ilze van der Westhuizen has moved to the island to take up the role for the next three years.

Guernsey's men's team reached the final stages of European qualifying for the T20 World Cup last summer and are ranked 37th in the world.

"I think the biggest thing I've picked up in the last week is how little the state schools play cricket against each other, and how the state schools [need to] work with the cricket board and grow this sport on the island," she told BBC Radio Guernsey.

"In [her native] South Africa, every state school has a cricket team and they will play each other - they'll probably play three or four games a week and then on a Saturday as well.

"Every single school [there] has a rugby field, a cricket field, a tennis court, a netball court - they're big on sport, whereas here you have to share some of your facilities.

"So I'm just hoping to get more state kids involved, not just in primary schools, but also secondary schools, see how we can keep them in the programme and get them into representative squads."

While Guernsey's men's team have established themselves in the top 10 sides in Europe, the island's women's side play comparatively few matches.

Guernsey's inaugural Women's Super League was held last summer but the international programme has been limited to matches against the likes of Jersey and Isle of Man in recent years.

They have yet to take part in qualifiers for a T20 World Cup, whereas neighbours Jersey have played in the past two such preliminaries.

"We want to be part of the developing nations to play World Cup qualifiers," Van Der Westhuizen said.

"In order to do that, we need to reach certain criteria with the ICC (International Cricket Council) and therefore the Women's Super League, women's club league structure, is very important.

"So what they have achieved last year is fantastic, for the first year, to get that off the ground, but now it's just about seeing what the product was and how we can do it better this year in order for it to be sustainable over the next 10 years."