Guernsey skipper Stuart Le Prevost has admitted he cannot wait for his country to host the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 7.
His side will start as one of the favourites for the tournament, although it will face some tough competition from the likes of Bahrain, Gibrltar, Japan, Nigeria and Suriname.
'It is massive for us and it is the biggest tournament we have ever been involved in. For us to be hosting it is awesome really and we are looking forward to it immensely,' said Le Prevost.
'You never go into tournaments like this not wanting to do well, so we are setting our sights high. We haven't played against the majority of the opposition – we have played against Gibraltar – and we will go in with some caution, respecting them all, but we will want to win every game.'
31 year-old Le Prevost revealed that his side had used a warm-up trip to Jersey, where it performed disappointingly, to try and find some information about some of the opponents.
'We were in Jersey last weekend having some warm-up games and I had a chance to chat to some of the guys. We managed to get some information on Japan from them and it was good to have a chance to talk to them and listen to their experiences. Hopefully we can emulate what they have done and go higher up the divisions,' he said.
Last year Jersey hosted the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 with great success, attracting a huge crowd to the final against Afghanistan, and Le Prevost is hopeful a combination of good results and excellent weather will see the people of Guernsey respond with similar enthusiasm.
'Cricket is a massive sport on the island and it is a huge participation sport, so hopefully if we can put a string of results together, this will attract a few people down to watch,' he said.