Can ex-West Indies skipper Adams take Jersey to a World Cup?

May 22, 2026 No Comments

Can ex-West Indies skipper Adams take Jersey to a World Cup?Image caption, Jimmy Adams has helped coach Jersey in their past three major tournamentsByBrent Pilnick, BBC Sport England and Danny Parkinson, BBC Channel Islands, AtCyprusPublished1 hour ago”I think Jersey showed in the last tournament in Holland last year that they should be taken seriously,” a familiar Jamaican accent says when asked about his side.Jimmy Adams knows a thing or two about cricket – the former West Indies captain played 54 Test matches, 127 one-day internationals, was head coach at Kent and played in two World Cups – reaching the semi-finals in 1996.Now the 58-year-old is hoping to return to the game’s biggest stage with one of its smallest teams – Jersey.After losing a coach at short notice last year, former Jersey boss Paul Hutchison opened up his contacts book and asked Adams if he would help out – and he has been an assistant coach with the side ever since. “For me it was a bit of an education. I hadn’t really over the years, paid much attention to associate cricket,” Adams told BBC Radio Jersey.Jersey will not take Guernsey lightly in qualifier final

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Associate nations – those non-Test-playing sides – make up the bulk of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) sides, and Jersey are one of Europe’s best.

Despite only having a population of about 100,000 they missed out on a place at this year’s T20 World Cup on net run rate as Italy went through in the Netherlands, and are one win away from making the final stages of European qualification for the 2028 event in Australia and New Zealand.

“It was it was an eye-opener for me, I didn’t know what to expect, and it was really a pleasant surprise on quite a few counts,” explains Adams in Cyprus, where Jersey are contesting ICC 2028 T20 World Cup Sub Regional Europe Qualifier A.

“Firstly it’s a good bunch of lads that are very talented, also the fact that things are a little bit different at the associate level – it’s refreshing to see players who, because of lack of resources, will do it themselves, whatever it is.

“You don’t see much of that at a professional level, and that’s not a bad thing per se, it’s just different, but refreshingly so.”

Charles Perchard and Dominic Blampied celebrate a wicket for Jersey — Image caption,

Jersey are 30th in the ICC’s T20 rankings

The island side are ranked 30th in the ICC’s T20 rankings and beat Scotland last year in the qualifying stage of the 2026 T20 World Cup.

So far in Cyprus they have brushed aside their group opponents Switzerland, France, Croatia and the hosts – they face Channel Island rivals Guernsey in Saturday’s final for the chance to keep the T20 World Cup dream alive.

“We’ve managed to get some good results up to now,” says Adams – who first coached Jersey at last summer’s T20 World Cup qualifier in the Netherlands before helping them in their 50-over ICC Challenge League tournament on home soil.

“The lads have played well, I think they’ve deserved every win,” Adams continued.

“Every time they’ve been asked questions at this level, they’ve been able to answer positively.

“We’ve had good batting and bowling performances throughout the group and hopefully they can continue that form and have a good day out on Saturday as well.”

Asa Tribe batting for Jersey — Image caption,

Asa Tribe made his Jersey debut when he was 17 years old

For an island with such a small population they are not able to draw on the diaspora of players that other countries can.

Many of their opponents have large numbers of South Asian players in their ranks, while Italy had former Australia international Joe Burns and Emilio Gay – recently called up by England – in their squad last summer thanks to Italian heritage.

But they do have some talent – Jersey-born Wellington all-rounder Nick Greenwood is the only first-class player in their squad in Cyprus, although many of his team-mates play a good standard of club cricket in England.

However the big name that Jersey has produced is Asa Tribe. The Glamorgan and England Lions batter has won 31 caps in all formats for Jersey but is now eligible to play for England, having lived in the United Kingdom for three years.

“For a country as small as Jersey with the resources that they have and don’t have, relative to the counties, I think it’s something Jersey should be proud of,” says Adams of Tribe – whose 115 not out against Papua New Guinea in April 2023 is still the highest score by a Jersey player in a formally recognised one-day international.

“To have produced a player so young and so good I think is exceptional.

“It just goes to show that it really doesn’t matter where you are in the world, if you have a young kid who loves it and somebody finds a way and means of supporting him then the sky’s the limit.

“I think the whole of Jersey is sort of holding their breath at the minute just to see how far the youngster can go, we all keep our fingers crossed for him.”

Jimmy Adams batting for West Indies — Image caption,

Jimmy Adams scored more than 3,000 Test runs for West Indies between 1992 and 2001

Adams’ career took him all around the world – he scored a career-high 208 not out against New Zealand in a Test in 1995.

But since retiring from cricket in 2004 he has seen West Indies become a shadow of the side that he played in, and one that dominated the game in the 1970s and 1980s.

They failed to qualify for the past World Cup and are ranked only above Zimbabwe by the ICC at Test level.

“The game has changed, the world has changed and things change,” says Adams on the state of the game in the Caribbean.

“Before me, Hungary was a world football superpower and Hungary isn’t that anymore, but football still continues to excite and people enjoy it and so on, and cricket won’t be any different.

“If you want to be nostalgic you can say ‘yes it’s been a bit sad watching it’, but the excitement of where world cricket has gone since then, that carries far more weight with me watching how the game has transformed itself through T20 cricket.

“Watching international cricket now, even Test cricket, is so much different than Test cricket in my time and I think that’s that’s something to be celebrated.

“Yes, when I sit down with old geezers my age we reminisce a little bit, but for me there are no tears shed.”

So what about a World Cup return with Jersey, either at T20, or less likely 50-over level?

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” he says.

“I think the way that world cricket is encouraging associate cricket at the minute leaves the door open.

“Fingers crossed, you just never know.”

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