85-81 Top cricketers

85 – Max Ellis

One of the beneficiaries of Guernsey’s presence on the ICC international tournament stage. Voted Guernsey’s young cricketer of the year in 2012 and overall player of the year a year later, he initially played for the now defunct St Pierre before moving to the fast-improving ‘Baa-Baas’ when the first attempts were made to successfully revive Division One cricket.

Capped in 2012, he played six full inter-insulars, taking 12 wickets as he largely took on the left-arm spin mantle left by the representative retirement of Jeremy Frith. His most telling spell in Island colours came in the World league match against Nigeria in 2016. That day he produced superb figures of 4 for 9 from nine overs. After a spell in Australia, he returned to the domestic game this summer and plays in the Irregulars colours.

Notable performances:

2013 –          13* & 3-23 Gsy v Jsy; 4-15 v Italy in Euro T20;

2014 –          4-12 v Cayman Islands in World Cricket League

84 – Richard Kirkpatrick

DEVELOPED under Jack Reddish’s sporting tutelage at the College in the late 1950s.

In 1959, his farewell season before heading to university, he picked up 18 wickets and was described by the one-time Island captain Vernon Collenette as ‘a very useful first change bowler who bowls away swingers steadily and usually in the right place’.

Two occasions when they were very rightly in that right place were when Pessimists ended Rovers’ two-year unbeaten record in July 1966, with a spell of 5 for 23. That same year he took 8 for 19 to destroy Tektronix and in his full Island debut against Jersey at the College Field in 1969, his accurate bowling was one of the very few positives in a miserable defeat at the hands of the Caesareans and the fiercely fast Tony Howeson.

Kirkpatrick, who would inch slowly to the crease before a windmill action sent the ball down from quite a height, took 3 for 18 from 14 overs. ‘Kirkpatrick, a surprise selection, was impressive, moving the ball dangerously.’

A couple of other achievements:

1966 –           7-67 OE v OV

1967 –           5-9 Pess v Opt; 5-9 Pess v Harlequins

83 – Ross Kneller

SUCCESSFUL domestic batsman, first with Wanderers and then Cobo, voted player of the year in 2011. By then he had made three of four inter-insular appearances as a fairly dashing batsman who, although failing to score heavily against Jersey, notched three half-centuries in 44 ICC games for his adopted island.

In 2012, he scooped the man of the match award for his performance in scoring 86 batting at six against Argentina in World Cricket League Five.

‘That’s the best I have batted for Guernsey,’ he said after that innings, which included six sixes. ‘It was just one of those days where I was not searching for sixes, but I was looking to put away the bad balls.’

82 – Blane Queripel

EMERGED as an Island star aged 21 at much the same time as his Cobo colleague Kris Moherndl and made his inter-insular debut in 2007 when he was given the new ball alongside another Cobo youngster, Peter Le Hegarat.

Going wicket-less and collecting a duck, the debut did not go very well for a player who went onto play in 21 ICC-level games for the island. Right-arm, he was capable of bowling fairly swiftly, and he recovered from the ordinary Guernsey debut to take two wickets in 2008. In little time he would turn himself into a very capable opening batsman and concentrate on that. Indeed, his best international performance came as a batsman in July 2010. Playing against France in 50-over European competition, he scored a crucial 57 opening the batting alongside Lee Savident at Port Soif.

81 – Kris Moherndl

Young cricketer of the year in 2007, immediately made himself a fixture in the full Island side in Guernsey’s early years of ICC representation.

His inter-insular debut was almost heroic. Batting at No. 9 he smashed a fine 33 as the Sarnians failed by five runs to end Jersey’s winning run. Although primarily a stylish middle-order batsman with a good array of shots, he was also an able seamer until a stress fracture in his back saw him convert to off-spin.