The first Jersey club to win the NatWest Weekend League Division I title four times in succession, Tony Carlyon is hopeful he can bow out as team captain with another victory and another record.’It would be a nice way to go out as skipper but I don’t really think about records but the team playing well and winning games.’We were disappointed to lose the Senior Cup final last week but we have another chance of a piece of silverware and we’re looking forward to playing Wanderers.’Hopefully this week’s rain will result in the Grainville wicket being a little damper so it won’t crumble like it did last weekend when we batted second.’Carlyon is without batsman Ben Silva because he has returned to University.
Bradley Vautier takes Silva’s place.Wanderers, a new club following the amalgamation of Pessimists and St Saviour this season, won the Guernsey title with six wins in eight games.Sporting Club beat Wanderers in the CI KO Cup earlier in the season but Wanderers had a couple of players missing.Carlyon added: ‘The CI game was close and I expect the same again this time.
Wanderers have good strength in their batting and their bowling so it should make for a close game.’Wanderers captain Dave Piesing said: ‘I’m reasonably confident that if we play as well as we have done this season we should give a good account of ourselves.
Sporting Club are not infallible and if we can get three wickets down they are vulnerable but that is something we’ve not done in the past.’Tim Duke and Ben Driver, two newcomers to Guernsey this season, have had very good seasons.
Duke, a former winner of the National Club Championship with Saffron Walden, is a good bat and a fine seam-up bowler.Driver, from Yorkshire, has been consistent with the bat having hit numerous scores of 40 and 50 throughout the season.The match is 50-overs-a-side with there being no limit on how many overs a bowler can deliver.
Play starts at 11 am.Sporting Club: Steve Carlyon, Matt Hague, Tony Carlyon, Dave Morfee, Simon Short, Trevor Rousseau, Bradley Vautier, Paul Carberry, Mark Reynolds, Martin Higgins and Nick Jewell.Wanderers: Tim Belton, Tim Duke, Ben Driver, Richard Veillard, Gary Tapp, Pierre Moody, Dave Piesing, Spencer Noyon, Steve Birkett, Mike Wall and Phil Challenger.
