Jersey tops Guernsey to keep promotion hopes alive

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Allrounder Ben Stevens nabbed his second straight Man of the Match award, following up 2 for 22 with the ball by steering Jersey’s chase with an unbeaten 67 in a seven-wicket win over Channel Islands rivals Guernsey at St Martin.

The result put both teams at 3-1, behind 4-0 Oman, though Guernsey remains ahead of Jersey on the net run rate tiebreaker with a +0.069 advantage. Guernsey faces Oman on the last day of pool play and, barring a dramatic upset by Nigeria over Jersey, needs to beat Oman to stay alive for promotion and force a three-way tie at 4-1 for the two promotion berths available.

Jersey won the toss at Farmers Field and captain Peter Gough opted to give Guernsey first strike. Despite a few edges that failed to carry to the slips cordon in the first three overs, Guernsey openers Matthew Stokes and GH Smith coasted through the first 15 overs in a promising half-century stand. It ended when Rob McBey struck midway through his second spell, beating Smit for pace with a short ball as an attempted pull ballooned to Nat Watkins at mid-on for 28.

Two overs later, McBey snared Oliver Newey with a low full toss that struck low on the pads for an easy lbw decision before capping his 3 for 41 with the key scalp of Matthew Stokes for 36, brilliantly taken down the leg side by Jake Dunford standing up to the stumps. Stokes’ score wound up being Guernsey’s best output on the day as a steady procession followed back to the pavilion.

Stevens and fellow left-arm spinning allrounder Watkins wiped out the middle order with Watkins claiming 3 for 29 in eight overs. Guernsey captain Jamie Nussbaumer’s dismissal was a microcosm of Guernsey’s limp batting effort, scooping a half-hearted drive back to Watkins for 14. Two balls later, Watkins pinned Oliver …

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