AS ever spectators at last week’s inter-insular were treated to a tense finish, and even the normally upbeat pair of Dave Buxton and Stephen Blampied were having doubts as Jersey stuttered toward their target of 119.

In the end it was Chris Jones, whose father Harry was in the crowd watching ‘Our Chris’ eke out a valuable 16 runs, and Ryan Driver who got the side to within sight of the finishing line with Ryan delivering the coup des gras with a six in the 46th over.

One of the pre match talking points was whether 16-year-old Ben Stevens would be playing and, if he was, would he really be the youngest person ever to represent Jersey in the inter-insular. It was generally believed that Ward Jenner had held that crown since he made his debut at the age of 18, but there is a murmur that there may have been an even younger participant some years ago.

His name is Chummy Porée who, if rumours are right, represented the Island at the age of 15. He was apparently the Springfield wicket keeper for many years and a real character.

It would be interesting to see if anyone has any evidence to support the rumour, although, if true, it could have a devastating effect on Ward, whose adult life has been built around the belief that he was the youngest person to ever represent his Island.

If you can remember how it felt the day you discovered Father Christmas wasn’t real, or when you found out that you weren’t an immaculate conception and just what your parents had done to conceive you, you will have some idea of how Ward is likely to feel if this belief is shattered.

But don’t let that put you off, he can always put Jonty in the team in a couple of years time and be the father of the youngest person to play for Jersey.

THERE should be more inter-island cricket this weekend as it is the second round of the CI knock outs. A black cloud with lines of rain coming from it on the weather forecast maps at the time of writing, however, may indicate that the scheduled matches could go the same way as the first round games, which were rained off.

If so it would be a real lottery as to who went through to the latter stages, so let’s hope the predicted bad weather doesn’t materialise.

GROUP A
Rathbones OV’s v Total Cobo (Grainville):
This is the big game of the round, the sort of match Cobo will be relishing after a season of being largely untested by inferior teams. I can’t see OV’s being too intimidated, despite the Cobo team sheet containing nine of the players that played for Guernsey last week, as they have a few representatives of the Jersey team themselves.

If Cobo come in their ‘Team Guernsey’ blazers and Oakley sunglasses, they could set fashion critic Bobby Minty a bit of a problem though, as even he may struggle to find anything about their attire to rip into, which will do him good, as he’s had too many easy targets recently, my shoes, Meeku’s blazer and most of Chris Jones’ wardrobe, to name a few.

I don’t think the usual ‘nice Oakleys Frithy’ to Guernsey’s ‘Mr Cricket’ Jeremy Frith will have the usually devastating effect on their occupant, and worse still may be taken as a compliment, and draw a response of ‘thanks Bob’. Yep Bobby’s really going to have to raise his game this week.

Simon Williams, OV’s manager, has assembled a fine body of men for the match and it should be a cracking game. The fact that the game is at Grainville must play into OV’s hands They do not get beaten on this wicket very often, which could just give them the edge.
Prediction: Hard to find too many faults with Cobo, but suspect Bobby Minty is up to challenge.

St Ouen v Rovers (FB fields):
Having dodged the Cobo bullet, St Ouen’s chances of qualifying for the semi-finals have improved significantly, but they have to beat Rovers tomorrow to realistically stand any chance of doing so.

They are probably playing the weakest team in the group, but certainly shouldn’t take anything for granted with GH Smit, who was unfortunate to be run out in the inter-insular, and Tim Duke, who took three wickets in that match, in the Rovers side.

St Ouen have a strong side out for this match including Anthony Kay who scored 83 on his first game back a couple of weeks ago and will be in Guernsey next week playing for Jersey in the ECC Division I tournament.

Dean Morrison has been keeping a tighter reign on the more wayward individuals of the side, you know who I mean, to make sure they turn up for this match fresh and raring to go and he will also be keen to show Guernsey what he is capable of, on a wicket that he has scored 143 not out on this year and 98 not out against Optimists, in this competition, last year.

I suspect St Ouen will be well up for this and will not want to have to rely on a victory against OV’s in the final match to stand any chance of progressing further in the competition, and can effectively end Rovers hopes of any silverware this season.
Prediction: Rovers cupboard likely to be bare again.

GROUP B
Romerils v Wanderers (KGV):
The fact that the game is in Guernsey means that poor Ryan Driver has to once again squeeze himself into a small aircraft for another white knuckle ride.

A hood over his head, a trail of Cornish pasties leading into the plane and an electric prod have all been successfully employed to get him on the plane before, but I’m not sure that Martin Waite is actually going to try to get him in the plane this year as he was spotted sticking a pair of large white overalls to a wooden board, using a well known brand of wallpaper paste and asking Ryan to ‘just try them on’.

Hopefully the paste is as strong as advertised as Romerils are already missing a couple of players, so have drafted in Wayne Summers and young Danny Kearns, who is a useful player in the making.

Wanderers are well capable of causing a surprise, and will be relishing a crack at the Jersey champions and Ben Driver, captain of Wanderers, will be keen to show that there is more than one Driver in the Channel Islands. I reckon therefore that it’s pretty safe to say…
Prediction: Driver to put team in pole position.

Fairbairn SCF v Argyle Investments (Guernsey)
SCF have become the forgotten team of the tournament. After only finishing third in this year’s league, many may be overlooking their chances.

Goldie certainly thought the 5/1 offered about the 2006 winners was on the generous side, and their chances of qualifying are certainly better after the cancellation of their match against Wanderers.

They will not fear Romerils despite being beaten by them twice this year as they were very close matches and they should probably have won the second of those matches and so have a pretty decent chance of progressing to the next round.

Argyle Investments, the old Mavericks side, are rebuilding and are likely to send over a young side which may be overseen by Justin Meades. They should not be totally discounted, but two league wins, both against bottom placed Optimists, would indicate that they are the weakest team in the group, and both Wanderers and SCF will see the matches against them as an opportunity to pick up a few bonus points on Romerils.
Prediction: SCF to put themselves back on CI map.