Fresh from his brilliant performances in Spain with the islands cricket team, Jersey’s Harrison Carlyon caught up with Dan Andrade about the experience, from being named player of the tournament to being crowned champions and qualifying for the Global Qualifiers for the T20 World Cup.
Have a read of the interview below!
Firstly, how were you all feeling in the lead up to the tournament? Were you confident it would go the way it did?
I know all the boys were feeling confident, we had worked really hard leading upto this tournament. That’s key, if you practice well it really helps when it comes to game day, you feel like you have that confidence in what your doing because you’ve done it so many times leading up to it.
How much of a privilege is it to represent Jersey at such tournaments for yourself personally?
It’s a huge privilege, it’s something I personally had always wanted to do since I started playing cricket at junior level. To have done it for almost 6 years now is something I’m proud of for sure.
Were you nervous at all going into games, especially the first against Germany?
This is a funny one really, I don’t usually get nervous at all coming into games but because this was our first tournament in 2 years due to COVID I was feeling it a bit leading up to that first game but once I faced that first ball I was fine thankfully. Having a good first game helped for sure and I felt a lot more relaxed in the remaining games.
You were named Man of The Match in that game – how pleased were you with that?
I was extremely pleased, it was great to get that win in our first game and to have played a decent part in that was a nice feeling for sure!
It was in the second game against Germany when the team qualified for the globals! How much of a buzz did the team get from that?
Obviously that was great to make it 4 from 4 at that stage and seal qualification was a great feeling for everyone involved. One thing we did say as a team though is that was only our first goal completed and that it was now time to focus on part 2, that being winning the tournament and this really did help the boys refocus coming into the next game against Italy!
You made sure you were champions of the tournament in the next game – how good was it to win it with a game to spare?
Again that was an amazing feeling to win the tournament with one game still to go and become European Champions again. The feeling of winning a tournament never gets old and I hope it’s a feeling I get to have many more times in my career!
You were named player of the tournament! How was that for you?
Yeah that was a nice way to cap off the week, something that I am extremely proud of on an individual level. Although the most important thing to me for the week was qualifying for the globals and wining the tournament.
You look next to global qualifiers – for people who may not know can you explain exactly what that tournament is?
The global qualifiers are the final stage before the World Cup. This comprises of all the other teams from around the world who won their regional qualifiers. The quality of this tournament will be extremely high with teams such as Zimbabwe, Oman and Ireland playing who have been part of many World Cups throughout the years.
How much are you looking forward to playing in it and how hopeful are you to progress to the T20 World Cup?
It’s something that everyone is really looking forward to. Quite a few of us in the current playing group were lucky enough to be part of the last global qualifiers in the UAE. Having experienced that already, it’s something that I know we all can’t wait to do again and hopefully go one step further than last time. In the UAE , we were only one win away from making it to the World Cup which is currently being held. I see no reason why we can’t go that one step further this time, the current playing squad is extremely strong and many of us gained valuable experience out in the UAE during the last globals. I think that this experience is something we can use to our advantage if we find ourselves in tight situations this time around. To make it to the World Cup this time would be amazing and is something that this group knows is more than possible but we will need to work extremely hard for as this next stage is another level up, and for that reason we cannot wait to get started!
Finally, do you have a message for all of the support, from those who travelled with you to everyone back home!
Just a massive thank you to everyone who showed support throughout the tournament whether it be at the ground or through messages on social media. It helps massively and is something that definitely drives the team on during the tournament. I think that people are now starting to realise the level at which Jersey Cricket operates, it may have in the past gone under the radar slightly but though sports coverage outlets such as yourself I think people are starting to realise how big cricket in Jersey actually is. We have a team that currently sits just outside the top 20 in the WORLD in the T20 format, the more support we get the better and this will really help us to drive ourselves even further up the world rankings.
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