Jersey cricket star off to Canada

A young Jersey cricketer is heading to Canada after being picked for a franchise tournament!

Grace Wetherall, who's 19, is joining the Vancouver Anchors for the Canada Super60.

She'll be competing in a ten-over tournament alongside Pakistan's captain Fatima Sana, and against other big names such as South Africa's captain Marizanne Kapp.

Grace said:

"It's a fantastic opportunity.

"Cricket is my whole life, I train cricket, I play cricket, I work in cricket, so being able to take my game to the next level and go so far, I've already been all the way to Australia to train and play over there of a winter, to show that all my work is paying off and is able to take me to other places, (rather) than just where Jersey takes me.

"It'll be great if, even if I don't get to play, just to have those conversations, learn some things from them, and take as much back as I can.

"I feel a little bit like an underdog, I don't really know what to expect, I don't know if I'm going to play or where I'm going to play, what is going to look like.

"The way I'm going to do it is to be my usual chatty self, get myself involved, get myself chatting to people, and taking in as much information as I can.

Fellow Jersey cricket star Asa Tribe will also be part of the tournament, representing the Brampton Blitz.

Grace added:

"It's hard coming from Jersey because it's such a small island, so breaking into stuff, even the county stuff in the UK, can be hard because you've not been in the setup for long.

"But I think it shows, especially to the youngsters here, that are wanting to go far in cricket that it is possible.

"I want to inspire young girls to be able to do this and show them it is possible, because for me, I've not seen that it's possible from a Jersey female side.

"I want to be that role model for kids to look up to and go, OK, I can take my cricket further than Jersey."

Jersey Cricket launched its new three-year strategy last week, which includes lofty ambitions for girls and women's cricket.

They include:

• Creating a clearer pathway from first participation to senior cricket
• Creating more opportunities to play and develop on and off-island
• Growing female coaching and officiating
• Establishing a standalone annual women's competition

Grace said:

"The girls pathway here has massively developed. I'm only 19, I started when I was 11, and I didn't even have a pathway when I first joined. It was like, you like cricket, you can play in the women's team! You can hit a ball, there you go!

"Where now we've actually got our development, we've got our pathway, we've got a women's team, we've got under-11s, under-13s, there's a huge pathway for all these kids joining.

"Cricket is not just a boys sport, it can be for girls too."