Jersey top Challenge League A and head to Nepal for World Cup qualifying
Jersey have won the Cricket World Cup Challenge League A, finishing five points clear of second-placed Kuwait. The result puts them into the Qualifier play-off for the second tournament in a row.
The Challenge League is a round-robin group of smaller cricket nations. Each side plays every other side, and the table decides who moves on. Jersey, a small island in the English Channel, won it with a run of results that few expected going in. BBC Sport reported that the island had also lost all four of its warm-up matches in July, against the United Arab Emirates and Nepal.
Zak Tribe led the way. The 25-year-old all-rounder, who bowls as well as bats, was named the tournament's best batter. He scored 150 against Papua New Guinea, the highest international score of his career. He also made 65 against Kenya and 53 against Qatar, and took nine wickets across five matches. Josh Lawrenson was named best player.
His brother Asa, a batter who plays for Glamorgan in English county cricket, played in Jersey's first three matches. He scored 72 in the win over Kenya in Nairobi, and the pair shared a 133-run partnership in that game. Jersey won by 123 runs. Earlier in the campaign, Jersey posted 347 for 5 against Papua New Guinea, the highest total of their history in a 50-over match, according to BBC Sport.
Next month, Jersey travel to Nepal for an eight-team Qualifier play-off. The matches are played at one-day international status, meaning each side bats for 50 overs. Jersey will face Kuwait, Nepal, Italy, Canada, Uganda, Namibia and the United Arab Emirates. The top four sides will move on to the final round of qualifying for the 2027 Cricket World Cup.
Zak Tribe told BBC Radio Jersey that the team is playing at a higher level than it ever has. The squad has spent years climbing through the ranks, and the 2026 campaign is the clearest sign yet that the work is paying off. Jersey became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council, the sport's global governing body, in 2005, and an associate member in 2007.
The play-off will test that progress against stronger opposition. Four of the seven opponents in Nepal are teams Jersey have not met in this campaign, and the top four finish is the target. Jersey now have a chance to do what they could not quite manage in the group stage, and to show their form holds against a tougher field.
