Mulewa Dharmichand

Wow. What a couple of days this has been. We’ve won two matches in two days, that four wins in a row and have now guaranteed ourselves promotion to the World Cricket League Division 5.

I wasn’t too happy to get out today for only four runs but I was very pleased to see Buddhika and Narender clock up the runs for us and secure us the win (Click here for the bulletin).

It’s been a good few days for us and we’re looking forward to having a day off tomorrow and I might go watch one of the other matches that are being replayed because of the rain on Tuesday.

We were lucky to get our match in on Tuesday – we had some torrential downpours in Singapore and the Singapore Cricket Club was the only ground able to play after the rain – you should see the pictures of Indian Association it was at least ten centimeters under water, but luckily it was so sunny today all the grounds dried up enough for everyone to get a game in.

It’s funny at the moment staying in a hotel when Singapore’s my home, but it’s good for us as a team and it means we get a real feel for the tournament, being around the other teams and having the whole "event experience".

I’m looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow and readying myself for the last group stage match which is against Malaysia who we really want to beat especially since we lost to them in the Stan Nagaiah Trophy before the ICC WCL Div.6 started. I know I want to make it five wins out of five before Saturday’s final.

Stuart Le Prevost

So today hasn’t been a great one for us, we lost our second match in the tournament and this time to Bahrain.

We didn’t play well today and that’s the fact of the matter, if we had played well and still lost then I maybe would feel better, but we didn’t we simply failed to perform, that’s all there is to it.

It’s obviously upsetting for us to lose to Bahrain again, as we lost twice to them in Division 7 and now its happened in Division 6.

Obviously all the guys are disappointed but I think generally morale is good within the team, we’ve got a good group and we’ll try and get each other motivated so hopefully we’ll rock up to the ground tomorrow and there shouldn’t be too much of a problem to get back on it and beat Norway.

The conditions here are very different to Guernsey – it’s hot and humid in Singapore and the guys are struggling to make sure that they take a lot of fluid on board. The pitches here have been good, we just haven’t bowled well on them that’s all – I’m hoping now we’re at Indian Association for two matches in a row it will mean we get more of an opportunity to analyze the pitch.

By Thursday of this week we would have played three matches in a row, but I’m not too worried about the guys being tired from it, we have to keep going to make sure we play good cricket and try our best to adapt to the conditions we’re in.

We’ve not got any niggles in the side which is good, however my room-mate Gary Rich managed to dislocate his finger today in practice which our physio popped back in so he could still play. I’ve got to say he’s been very good about the whole thing and I spoke to him about it earlier and he’s icing it ready for tomorrow game, so hopefully it’ll be fine.

Today has been a disappointing one – but we’ve got to move on and look to beating Norway, which ultimately I think we can do.

Stuart Le Prevost is the Guernsey captain, whose exclusive diary will be here throughout the tournament

Mulewa Dharmichand

It’s been a great start to the tournament here in Singapore and I don’t think many things come close to winning Man of the Match for our first game, so for me personally it’s been a good start, especially since I managed to bag six wickets.

For the team, I think we had a good first game, especially since we won so convincingly and it was a game we knew we had to win – in our minds it was a key game no matter who we were playing.

It’s really competitive cricket here, more than I saw in Jersey when we played in Division 5 last time, and the wickets we’ve got here are more run–friendly so hopefully people we’ll see some good games. Although having said that, I’ll be looking to take lots of wickets and making sure the opposition teams don’t make lots of runs!

Before the tournament started, I was involved in the organising side and now that’s over with, it’s good to be able to focus on playing cricket and being part of the team – it’s a good feeling to just have to perform as a player and not have to wear my Singapore Cricket Association hat.

I think team has got a good lift with today’s win, as prior to the tournament we had a couple of bad games and then last week we had a Twenty20 tournament here in Singapore which went well and helped to boost team morale but with that win today at SCC – we’re all in a good mood and ready to take on our next challenge – Botswana.

Dharmichand Mulewa is the Singapore vice-captain

Stuart Le Prevost

It’s been an interesting first day for us and admittedly losing to Singapore wasn’t great. It was a game where we did some things pretty badly and other things pretty well and we now have to move forward.

For the Guernsey side, this is probably the first time for roughly 90 per cent of the side to be playing abroad and that’s something we’ve all had to get used to. The conditions here in Singapore are extremely different to Guernsey.

It’s hot and humid and having five days out here before the tournament started has definitely helped me and the rest of the team get used to things, but we need to work harder after today’s disappointing seven-wicket loss to Singapore.

We’re up against Bahrain tomorrow, a side we’ve lost to twice before but I am hoping not to make it three times in a row. I know their game went down to the wire today against Malaysia so hopefully they’ll be fairly tired when they face us at Kalang.  
It’s something that could work in our favour, if they’re feeling tired as we finished our game fairly early today (not without a lack of trying) so we could see things go well for us. I just have to remember today’s game is in the past and it’s about looking forward and going for a win tomorrow.

I’ve really enjoyed Singapore so far,  I didn’t really know what to expect but the food has been great, good hospitality, everyone’s been very friendly and the hotel’s great, but now I’ve had my chance to explore the city with the rest of the lads, I’ve got to focus on the nitty gritty of the cricket.

Stuart Le Prevost is the Guernsey captain

Billy MacDermott - Argentina captain

It is extremely exciting to be captaining my country in the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 this week.

Cricket has a small yet growing profile in Argentina so I am hoping that if we can perform well and interest people locally in the sport.

We don't really get any cricket on television in Argentina – we get ICC Cricket World once a week, but it is shown in the middle of the night – so to have the opportunity to get lots of local and international media interested in the event is very exciting for us as players and the cricket community.

This is the biggest tournament that I will have ever played at, as we know that the top two teams will be on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup, which is just incredible for us.

I think it is a great advantage to be at home as we know the grounds and we know the wickets and we will have all our friends and family cheering us along as well. We are hoping to have good crowds watching our matches, numbers to which we are not accustomed.

We know quite a lot about the other teams as we have played some of them in the World Cricket League Division 3 and 2 events, while we have also watched Hong Kong's matches in the Asia Cup against India and Pakistan. We have an idea of who all the team's best players are and how we are going to approach the matches.

I was born and raised in Argentina and I was lucky to have a PE teacher who was passionate about cricket. He tried to get all the boys at school to play the game and when I was young I was keen to try any new sport. The opportunities to travel playing cricket were very attractive to me as well.

Of course I played other sports, such as rugby, which I had to stop aged 19 as I broke both my wrists. I still enjoy playing football in a local league in the winter.

It has been nice to receive a good luck message from my old school friend Fabricio Coloccini, who I went to school with until the age of 11, and who I used to play cricket with when I was younger. He was not bad at cricket, but he was obviously absolutely amazing at football!

It is always nice when other elite sportsmen wish us luck or share their experiences of what it is like to play sport for Argentina, as some of those involved in our national rugby team have done before with us.

The game in Argentina is progressing and there is lots of good work in the ACA Development Programme, including spreading the game to juniors and women.

I am involved in coaching the women's team and they have made great progress during the course of the last two years. Since the ICC Americas Region started a regional tournament, there has been a lot of interest from girls wanting to play the game.

A lot of women in Argentina play field hockey so they have good coordination skills and I think our team can be very competitive at international level within the next ten years.

At the moment, our focus for the next week is to finish in the top two at this tournament and making it to South Africa in April.

It would be amazing to make it through to the World Cup Qualifier and have the chance to play against the likes of Ireland and Scotland.

To play in the World Cup or gain ODI cricket status and have the chance to play the likes of Australia, England and South Africa would be a dream come true.

Hamisi Abdallah

	Hamisi Abdallah cracks one through the covers during his 31 against Jersey © ICC

Today is the rest day in the World Cricket League and teams now have a better idea of what they need to do if they are going to progress in this competition.

After a fantastic win against Jersey on Saturday, we (Tanzania) were a bit disappointed to lose yesterday to Hong Kong who was an excellent team. There was a great crowd at that game and there has been lots of interest from the media on a daily basis; cricket has been back page news for the past fortnight which doesn’t always happen here.

Cricket in Tanzania is going from strength to strength and it is a sign of how far that we have come that we can stage this tournament, having held an ICC Africa event here back in 2006.

I play my cricket in Dar Es Salaam, where I work for the Tanzania Cricket Association as a Development Officer, and there is a thriving cricket community with the A league having two divisions, with 15 teams in total and four grounds with turf wickets.

But cricket is also popular in other areas as well and our national side is made up of players from across the country.

Lots of people used to think that only Indians played cricket in Tanzania, but the efforts of the national association to spread the games into schools, which is where I first experienced playing the game, means that the sport is popular amongst black Africans as well.

When I go into the schools and see the talent that is coming up, particularly those guys who come for extra coaching at our Academy, then the future is certainly looking very bright. At the opening ceremony of the event, over 100 children from the local cricket programme had the opportunity to showcase their skills to a watching audience, and I think everybody was very impressed by what they saw.

I spent my morning today going to visit a project run by the Tanzanian Youth Coalition, along with a player or representative from the other five teams, which provides an opportunity for young people in Tanzania to receive education.

The visit was part of the ICC’s partnership with UNAIDS and UNICEF on AIDS awareness, which is a big problem in Tanzania. It was great for the other players to have an opportunity to see a different side to my country and the great work that charities do here.

I don’t think many people at the centre had ever met anybody from the likes of Jersey, Afghanistan or Hong Kong either. Tomorrow the attention will go back on the cricket and it is a massive game for us against Afghanistan who has won their first two matches.

We have played against them in a warm-up match and I can’t wait to try and get another victory in this tournament. We just need to focus on the basics and I think we have a good chance of beating Afghanistan.

Hamisi Abdallah is the Tanzania allrounder, one of a number of players blogging for Cricinfo their experience of the World Cricket League in Tanzania

Although we haven’t won any of our practice matches, the Fiji boys feel ready for the start of the tournament on Saturday.

Some of our players haven’t played on a turf wicket for 18 months so it has been useful to get to experience the conditions and adjust to the different bounce to the artificial wickets that we are used to playing on back at home.

I work as a bank officer back in Fiji and our team is made up of soldiers, a lecturer and a graphic designer. We are all lucky that our work has been very supportive in allowing us to prepare for this tournament and take the time off to represent our country.

Although rugby and soccer are probably the most popular sports back in Fiji, we have been receiving a lot of support. We even had the opportunity to go and meet the president before we departed which was a really good experience. It turned out that he used to play a bit of cricket himself, but I couldn’t find out too much more than that. In Fiji, it is tradition that when you are in the company of somebody so senior, you only speak when you are spoken to.

We play Afghanistan in our opening match of the tournament and we have heard that they have a really good bowling attack. I believe Italy are one of the favourites, while we found out yesterday that Hong Kong has a really strong team as well, with an excellent spin attack.

My main focus is to make sure I take plenty of wickets and try and make an important contribution with the bat at No.7, either taking my team to victory or rebuilding an innings if we have struggled early on.

It is the opening ceremony of the tournament today and I am hoping to have the opportunity to meet the players from other teams and talk to them not only about cricket, but what life is like back in their country. I have never been to any of the other five countries that we are playing against in the tournament so it is a good opportunity to learn about how other people live their lives.

I really enjoy having the opportunity to travel and meet people, so it is great that as well as getting a chance to play cricket in ICC events like this, I have the opportunity to experience different cultures.

My father used to play for Fiji and in his time there was never an opportunity to take part in events like the one we are playing in this week, which I think makes me appreciate being part of the squad at this tournament.

We are all desperate to do as well as we can in the next six matches and perhaps we can get the opportunity to experience some South American culture next January for Division 3 in Argentina.

Greg Browne is the Fiji batsman, one of a number of players blogging for Cricinfo their experience of the World Cricket League in Tanzania

Matt Hague

The Jersey squad arrived in Tanzania today full of excitement about the adventures that lie ahead. We have been talking about coming to play in this tournament ever since we qualified in May, particularly in the last couple of weeks when we have been meeting most days for training, so it is great to finally be here and I can’t wait for the tournament to start.

It was amazing on the journey from the airport to the hotel to get a taste of what life in Tanzania is really like. I, like many of the squad, have never been to Africa before; we couldn’t believe the amount of traffic, which meant we crawled along on the team bus, and the pace of life here seems different to home as well. It makes the island life of Jersey look like a rollercoaster in comparison. We have to play six games in eight days, so the tournament schedule is pretty tough, but I would love to try and see what Dar Es Salaam has to offer and experience some of the culture.

There were people selling all kinds of stuff next to the road. Somebody had even set up a mini shoe shop on the pavement – you wonder how they make a living – and there were lots of people at every traffic light trying to sell you all kind of different things. I think we’ll need to change some of our US dollars into local currency so we can buy some of the fresh fruit that was for sale by the side of the road which looked very appetizing and perhaps I’ll see if I can get some presents for the family as well from the street traders.

After checking into our hotel, which is located right next to the sea and only half-an-hour of all three venues, we went to our first practice session this afternoon, which we basically used to help recover from the jet lag and do some light fielding drills.

I’m looking forward to my first opportunity of seeing how the wickets play when we take on Fiji in a practice match tomorrow and examining what we need to adapt to the different conditions.

That’s not just dealing with how the ball bounces on the wicket, or the difference in the outfield in comparison to back at home, but looking at how we can adjust our tactics to local conditions.

Playing in Jersey it is quite common for a bowler to bowl his 10 overs straight through. I think the heat and humidity will make that a challenge for anybody to do in Tanzania, but until we’ve had the opportunity to experience the conditions ahead of our first competitive match on Saturday we really don’t know.

Being here at this level of ICC event really hits home how things have changed for cricket in Jersey. It is amazing to think that just three years ago our only international game of the season was against Guernsey.

Then when we became a member of the ICC in 2005 we had the opportunity to go and play in Scotland and Italy which was absolutely fantastic, but to think that a team of Jersey cricketers have travelled all the way to Africa, to play against countries like Fiji, Hong Kong and Tanzania, with a dream of progressing to Division 3 of this event in Argentina is unbelievable.

I think we have an even more talented squad than the one that played in Jersey, with the addition of some really promising youngsters which is a great sign for the Development Program that our Board has invested in so heavily.

At the age of 34, if we’re not successful in this tournament, I may never ever have the opportunity again of playing this level of international cricket, so while our youngsters are keen to make the most of their opportunities, the old timers in the squad don’t want this fairytale story of trying to qualify for the 2011 World Cup to end just yet! I quite fancy a trip to Argentina in January when the weather back home will be freezing.

With the experience of Peter Kirsten as coach, to help guide us through our African adventure, and a side full of confidence after our win at the European Championships Division 2, we’re a side ready for the challenges that the next fortnight will throw at us and I can’t wait for the real action to begin on Saturday.

Matt Hague is the Jersey captain