12 Top cricketer

12 – Jamie Nussbaumer

Who out of those watching Jamie Nussbaumer add his name to the prestigious College Field century honours board back in 2005 would have imagined that the young wicketkeeper-batsman would become one of the new millennia’s leading fast bowlers? Not only a quickie with the capacity of delivering a really ‘heavy ball’ but also an astute and respected Island captain who has led the side in ICC competitions in all manner of places.

But that is how it has transpired for the player who was still a budding keeper when he scored that century off the Victoria College attack 16 years ago. His undefeated 107 – a second ton for him that June – meant he was the 20th Elizabethan to score an inter-collegiate century and the first in 16 summers, Three years on from that day he became a fully-fledged Guernsey player, winning the first of 10 50-over inter-insular appearances at Grainville. Chosen as a lower-order all-rounder, he missed out with the bat, but his return of 2 for 15 from nine overs offered promise of an exciting representative future ahead. His individual record against Jersey highlights an unspectacular batting effort (65 runs) but in overall representative games he has netted 543 runs, many scored when scoring quickly was required.

More important to the Green cause have been the 96 wickets, the team leadership, fierce competitive nature and human role within a group.

His 60 World Cricket League wickets is more than any other Sarnian and there have been some match-turning stellar performances among those – often thousands of miles away from his home island. In the triumphant WCL6 Malaysia 2011 campaign, Nussbaumer produced one of the great spells for Guernsey in ICC competition in the stifling heat and humidity of the Buyemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur.

Having posted a below par total of 212, the Sarnians looked to be on course to lose against a strong Kuwait side before Nussbaumer, who had earlier struck with the new ball, came back into the attack with seven overs remaining and the powerplay having just been taken with 48 runs still required. He proceeded to blast out four batsmen and run out another as he finished with figures of 5 for 35 in a crucial 12-run victory.

Another man-of-the-match display came in the subsequent Singapore WCL5 tournament five months later in February 2012, although the circumstances could hardly have been more contrasting. This time around it was the opening day of the competition and Guernsey were up against by-now familiar foes Bahrain, with whom they had previously had some real ding-dong battles. Nussbaumer, though, blew the opposition away, taking a wicket with the first ball of the day on his way to 5 for 19 as Bahrain were skittled for just 49. ‘It’s always nice when the ball is jumping around a bit and I was just getting it into the right areas,’ said the Guernsey paceman after that nine-wicket win that set the Greens up for their highest ever finish on the WCL ladder.

Nussbaumer then succeeded Stu Le Prevost as Island captain when Nick Pothas arrived on the coaching scene in 2013. His first big tournament as skipper was the European Division One T20 championship in Sussex and he subsequently led the Island in tournaments from as near as Jersey to Malaysia in 2014 and Africa in 2017.

He lifted the inter-insular trophy in 2015 after the memorable victory at Port Soif and later that summer led Guernsey to top spot in the WCL6 tournament in Essex – albeit that success was not confirmed until fellow finalists Suriname were found to have fielded ineligible players.

All the while he has been a consistent performer with his one and only club side, Cobo, winning all there is to win domestically and across the Channel Islands. Capable of scoring spectacularly quickly, recent years have been plagued by serious knee issues which necessitated surgery.

Those knee problems cut back his bowling capabilities but into his mid-30s this year he has been able to regain something close to full fitness and, at times, shown a semblance of what he was capable of with the ball in hand. Still often opens the batting in the shorter game and in early June smashed an undefeated Evening League ton. Was voted young player of the year in 2005, 2008 and 2009.

Bahrain v Guernsey, Played At The Padang, Singapore, 18-Feb-2012, WCL Division 5

Guernsey Won by 9 wkts

Toss won by Bahrain, Umpires S Douglas (Bermuda) and Sri Ganesh (Singapore)

Player of the Match JAJ Nussbaumer

Bahrain Innings

Shahzad Ahmed+   c TCR Kimber         b JAJ Nussbaumer            0

Adnan Butt                                           b JAJ Nussbaumer           15

Azeem ul Haque                                   b JAJ Nussbaumer            1

Ashraf Yaqoob        lbw                         b MJM Renouf                   1

Adil Hanif               c SE Le Prevost      b D Hooper                       10

Anasim Khan                                        b JAJ Nussbaumer           2

Tahir Dar                c TJ Ravenscroft     b JAJ Nussbaumer            0

Fahad Sadeq                                        b D Hooper                       1

Naeem Amin          not out                                                           5

Yaser Sadeq*         c TCR Kimber         b D Hooper                       0

Zafar Zaheer                                        b SRM Bisson                   0

Extras           (b1 lb0 w11 nb2)                                                     14        

TOTAL          (in 13.5 overs)                                                         49        

Bowling:

JAJ Nussbaumer     6-1-19-5

MJM Renouf            3-0-18-1

SRM Bisson            3.5-1-10-1

D Hooper                1-0-1-3

Guernsey Innings

GH Smit                 c Shahzad Ahmed b Yaser Sadeq                   13

R Kneller                not out                                                           14

JDJ Frith                 not out                                                           8

TJ Ravenscroft        dnb          

SE Le Prevost*       dnb         

LB Ferbrache          dnb           

D Hooper                dnb         

TCR Kimber+         dnb 

JAJ Nussbaumer     dnb 

MJM Renouf            dnb       

SRM Bisson            dnb          

extras          (b0 lb2 w13 nb0)                                                     15        

TOTAL          (for 1 wkt in 12.5 overs)                                          50        

Bowling:

Yaser Sadeq           5-0-15-1

Anasim Khan          2.5-0-19-0

Naeem Amin          5-0-14-0

The 2015 Guernsey Inter-insular side.

Back row, left to right: Lucas Barker, Jason Martin, Ollie Newey, Will Fazakerley, James Wilkes-Green, Ollie Nightingale and Jordon Martel.

Front: David Hooper, Tom Nightingale, Matt Stokes, Jamie Nussbaumer, Ben Ferbrache, Max Ellis and Tim Ravenscroft.