A second successive century by Jeremy Frith with the bat and five wickets with the ball helped Guernsey secure promotion from the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 7 on Saturday. Guernsey defeated Suriname by 263 runs and joined Bahrain in Division 6. Bahrain topped the group stages after a fifth consecutive win in the tournament when it defeated Nigeria by 176 runs.

Sunday’s finalists have joined Botswana, Malaysia, Norway and Singapore in the Division 6 tournament which will be staged in Singapore from 29 August to 5 September.

Frith, who has scored 364 runs in the tournament to date, won his third man-of-the-match award this week but he was happier to focus on his side’s promotion and Sunday’s final against Bahrain than his own individual success.

“As I said earlier in the week, the man-of-the-match award is incidental. The important thing was to win the game and book a place for Singapore which is what we set out to do,” said Frith.

“Stuart (Le Prevost) and I have batted well on a few occasions. It was nice to get 300 on the board, as this week we have fielded first a lot. I think we can definitely win the final. Bahrain are a good team, we are a good team but if we play good cricket we have a great chance and it should be a good match for anybody coming to watch tomorrow.”

Lee Savident (45) and Matt Oliver (52) gave Guernsey a lively start when the two put on 106 runs for the first wicket which was scored at a healthy rate of just over five runs an over. After both the openers were dismissed in the space of five overs, Frith and Le Prevost led the recovery before smashing the ball all around KG Five in a brilliant 182-run partnership.

Frith was in an outstanding form with his 106 coming from just 86 balls, while Le Prevost made an unbeaten 67. Guernsey batsmen sent Suriname on a leather chase in the last 10 overs which yielded 114 runs as the hosts finished at 315-3 from 50 overs.

In reply, just two Suriname batsmen reached double figures with Frith following up his century with 5-8 from just four overs. The defeat meant Suriname finished fifth on the table and was consequently relegated to Division 8.

“It is awesome to get promoted. We didn’t expect to turn Suriname over like we did but we came into the game with a professional attitude and really did the business,” captain Stuart Le Prevost said.

“In the past we have been criticised for our tournament play which hasn’t been great and there have been a couple of European tournaments where we haven’t really played to our potential. We play as a team, we win as a team, we lose as a team, and hopefully we are going to go to Singapore and grind out some results there.”

Elsewhere, a century by Ashraf Yagoob (104 not out) and 83 by Azeem Ul Haque helped Bahrain to 273-5 against Nigeria, before it bowled out the African side for 97 all out.

At the other end of the table, Japan recorded a vital 29-run win over Gibraltar at College Field.

Patrick Giles-Jones made a vital contribution of 69 as Japan reached 227-8 off 50 overs, before Gibraltar fell just short of its target when it was dismissed for 198 all out.

The defeat meant Gibraltar joined Suriname in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 8 that will be played in 2010, while Japan and Nigeria will play in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 7 event in 2011.

In Sunday’s ranking play-off matches, Bahrain plays Guernsey at KG Five, Japan takes on Nigeria at Port Soif and Suriname faces Gibraltar at College Field.