JERSEY’S junior cricket teams have been handed tough groups on their debuts in the International Cricket Council’s European Division I this summer.

The Island’s U15s, who host the tournament between 4 and 7 August, have been drawn against top seeds Scotland and the Netherlands in their group while Guernsey face Ireland and Denmark.

In the under-17 Division I championship, in Belfast, between 14 and 17 July, Jersey oppose Ireland and The Netherlands while Guernsey play against Scotland and Denmark.

Jersey and Guernsey are competing against the four European High Performance Program countries for the first time, on a trail basis, on the back of good performances last summer.

Jersey Cricket Board director Chris Minty said: ‘It’s a big step up for our players and we are all looking forward to the challenge. Everyone wants challenging games to improve their cricket and we are preparing for that now.

‘Scotland are number one seeds at U15 level while The Netherlands we don’t know a lot about.

‘Some of the Irish lads in the U17s we will have played against last summer as they came to Jersey to play in the Standard Bank Festival.

‘All our squads are working hard indoors on their games and we’re all looking forward to getting outside in the next few weeks.’

Last summer, Jersey won the U19 and U23 Division 2 Championships and they were runners-up to Guernsey in the U15 Division II Championship.

The sides did not lose a single match, other than to one another, in any of the competitions and many of the victories over the other countries were so large that the gap in standards between the sides was very apparent.

This year’s U15 and U17 championships will be the first real test to see how the development of the youth in both islands compares with that of the HPP members.

Jersey host two tournaments this summer, the other is the World Cricket League Division V in May.