Jersey beat Guernsey to retain 50-over island title

Jersey continued their dominance over Guernsey as they won the 50-over inter-insular by five wickets at Grainville.

The hosts, who restricted Guernsey to 161 all out off 48.4 overs, have not been beaten by their rivals in a one-day game since 2015.

Jersey reached their target of 162-5 off 36.4 overs thanks to Ben Ward's 82 not out, but not before some worries, having been restricted to 21-3 in the ninth over.

Jersey will now prepare for their final ICC Challenge League tournament later in the autumn.

"After Guernsey got off to a good start, we were happy to keep them to 161," Jersey head coach Neil MacRae told BBC Radio Jersey.

"Guernsey came out with the passion and the fire we expect - they bowled well at the start, hit some good areas, so three down early, it was a tight contest.

"But I think [it was] a good partnership between Ben Ward and Harrison Carlyon - and then Ben batting brilliantly to bat all the way through."

Opener Lucas Barker hit 37 while Matt Stokes scored 42 but Guernsey lost top-order wickets at regular intervals.

A middle-order collapse cost them any chance of victory - they went from 131-5, when skipper Ollie Nightingale was trapped lbw, to 138-8 as Carlyon took 4-20 while Ward and Scott van Breda each claimed two wickets.

Tailender Charlie Forshaw added 10 as Guernsey were bowled out for 161.

In reply, Jersey's openers struggled - Patrick Gouge going for three, Stan Norman for two and Zak Tribe for six to leave them on 21-3.

But Carlyon and Ward's 73-run fourth-wicket stand turned the game for Jersey before the former went for 31.

Ward went on to hit 13 fours in his 86-ball knock to guide Jersey home with more than 13 overs to spare.

"There's always a bit in the wicket here, so you know if you land enough balls in the right place for long enough, you're going to be in the game," Guernsey head coach Jeremy Frith said.

"We did that for that first 10 overs, we got a lot of balls in the right area, and then we just didn't quite continue to do that over the course of their innings really.

"At that point, if you keep doing it you're going to be in with a shout of winning the game, but if you're only getting 161 you've got to bowl pretty well to win - and we put ourselves in a position where we had to bowl unbelievably well to win the game and we bowled OK."