In brief: Jersey cricketer Asa Tribe has returned to the island squad for the final round of ICC Challenge League A fixtures, saying he is “absolutely delighted” to be back. The 22-year-old Glamorgan and England Lions batter holds the record for the highest individual score in the ICC Challenge League. Jersey top their six-team pool and need just two more wins to reach the 2026 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off in Nepal.
A prodigal talent returns
It has been quite a twelve months for Asa Tribe. Since his last appearance in a Jersey shirt in the summer of 2025, the young batter has played franchise cricket in South Africa and Canada, turned out for Welsh Fire in The Hundred, toured with the England Lions, and helped Glamorgan retain their Division One County Championship status after the county’s promotion in 2025 following two decades in the second tier. Not bad for a 22-year-old who made his international debut for Jersey as a 17-year-old.
Now, with Jersey’s World Cup qualification push entering its decisive phase, Tribe is back in the fold. “I’ve had a bit of a busy last 12 months and I’m happy to be playing for Jersey again,” he told BBC Radio Jersey. Given the schedule he has kept, that may be something of an understatement.
Record-breaking performances for the island
Tribe’s last two outings for Jersey were, by any measure, extraordinary. The BBC reports that he scored 175 in a 160-run win over Papua New Guinea, a record score for an individual batter in the ICC Challenge League, before following it up with an unbeaten 53 in an eight-wicket win over Qatar. Those two innings came in the same round of Challenge League A fixtures, and the 175 was his third List A century in the space of a week, having already scored two for Glamorgan.
“That one is quite close to my heart,” Tribe said of the record-breaking knock against Papua New Guinea. “That was one of the games where we needed someone to stand up, there was a bit going on with the ball, we were batting first on one that was doing a little bit and I feel that knock set that game up really nicely.”
It was that performance, combined with his domestic form, that earned him a call-up to the England Lions squad that winter. He is due to tour with the Lions to the Caribbean next month.
England ambitions and the Jersey balancing act
The elephant in the dressing room, of course, is that Tribe’s long-term goal is to play for England. He is candid about it. “It’s a huge ambition of mine,” he told the BBC. “I have had a small taste for it in the Lions stuff and I really want to make that stride to keep going and keep getting better and keep pushing for the next stage in my career, which I hope is England.”
He is equally clear-eyed about the challenge. “The side’s very strong so it’s not something that I’m just going to walk into,” he said, adding that he is constantly asking himself what areas of his game need improvement and how he would be ready to take an opportunity if it came.
The BBC notes that Tribe would not be the first player from an associate nation to make the step up. Emilio Gay, who was part of the Italy side that pipped Jersey to a place at this year’s T20 World Cup in last summer’s European qualifying tournament, was called up by England for their first Test against New Zealand in June. An England call-up would, however, spell the end of Tribe’s Jersey career.
For now, though, his focus is on helping Jersey complete the job in Challenge League A. The island tops the six-team pool and needs just two more wins to progress to the 2026 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off in Nepal in December. “I think the position we’re in for this tournament is a really good one,” Tribe said. “Only really requiring to win two or three games is a position you’d love to be in.”
Source: BBC News
