Guernsey’s senior men’s team will welcome Academy sides from Hampshire and Surrey to the KGV this weekend.
The season opens with the island side playing Hampshire Cricket today at 17:00, before further matches across the bank holiday break.
It marks the beginning of a hugely important year for Guernsey’s top representative side as they prepare for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Regional Final, to be held in the Netherlands in July.
The top two teams from that competition will earn a place in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
With those matches looming later this summer, the Sarnian’s wanted “games against a high-standard of opposition in the build-up to that July tournament,” said Guernsey Cricket.
Island team manager Rob Thomson has put together this weekend’s programme.
Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, the round-robin tournament will see Guernsey take on some of the best young talent from two of the top English counties in a series of 50-over and T20 matches.
This weekend’s schedule (all at the KGV) :
- Thursday 17 April: Guernsey v Hampshire (T20 – 5:00pm)
- Friday 18 April: Guernsey v Surrey (T20 – 12:00pm)
- Friday 18 April: Surrey v Hampshire (T20 – 4:00pm)
- Saturday 19 April: Guernsey v Hampshire (50-over – 11:00am)
- Sunday 20 April: Hampshire v Surrey (50-over – 11:00am)
- Monday 21 April: Guernsey v Surrey (50-over – 11:00am)
Director of Cricket, Jeremy Frith has named a strong 19 player-squad for the Series:
Mr Frith said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Hampshire and Surrey to the Island to help us get the season underway. An exciting summer for everyone. The men are a few wins from a World Cup finals against all the full members and there is an exciting summer of domestic competition awaiting us as well. We also have some landmark games coming along. The MCC will for the first time play a States Schools XI as well as playing Elizabeth College, and we are looking forwards to our first all women’s league. We’ve already seen Elizabeth College put out an all girls team a couple of weeks ago. Overall we hope as many people as possible can access cricket this summer and enjoy our great game.”
This weekend’s matches will see established island squad members play alongside younger cricketers gaining more senior experience such as Ed Robinson and Evan Le Huray.
Two of the team – Charlie Forshaw and Luke Bichard – are fresh from opening the bowling at Lord’s a week ago for the ICC Europe Men’s U23 team which beat the MCC by five wickets in a 50-over game.
Meanwhile, the domestic cricket season begins on Sunday 27 April.
The season includes a packed calendar of local competitions with four Evening League divisions, a Weekend Championship, and Bowl fixtures. The Channel Island League will also run throughout the summer.
There will also be plenty of action in the junior and age-group competitions, and 2025 includes the launch of Guernsey’s inaugural Women’s Premier League.
Across all competitions, a total of 358 matches will be played on-island this season.
Guernsey Cricket says sponsorship opportunities remain available across the domestic competitions. Interested parties should contact Guernsey Cricket for more information.