Bangladeshis as County Overseas Players

[DaveGillespie]

This thought has come to mind with the impending arrival of the Bangladesh team for their upcoming series v England. But to my recollection there has not yet been an instance of a County picking up a Bangladeshi player as an overseas pro. Whilst obviously not applicable this year, in my opinion, it would be a smart county who picked up one of the likes of Habibul Bashar, Mohammed Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza or even Enamul Haque Jr. Furthermore, it would be a damned sight better for the game as a whole than bringing over yet another dodgy passport holding Saffer or Aussie with no international prospects whatsoever. Hopefully we may see a couple of the above mentioned getting overseas contracts next season - I am sure someone like Derbyshire or Somerset could do with a quality spinner like Rafique, and it would doubtless be a cheaper option than the aforementioned dodgy passport merchants.

Your thoughts, please.

[Rachael]

My own thought is that each and every county side should be obliged to ensure that in every game it fielded at least one player from a country with a poorly developed first class game.. be that the WI, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kenya, Zimbabwe or whereever. In order to guarantee having one available each county would need to have 2 on it's boooks.. and that would pretty much guarantee a few Bangladeshi's coming into consideration.

English cricket is in a priviliged position.. in that it CAN help young players develop... and the future of the sport at International level seems to me to be pretty much dependent on there being more than just 2-3 nations in which it's played to a respectable standard: it's in pretty much everyone's interests that the likes of the Bangladeshi's you mention get every bit of help anyone can offer them.

It's not as if the county scene can't support them: we've four times as many 1st class teams (with opportunities for young players) as we can really justify anyway (just compare the challenge of getting into 1st class cricket in this country with doing the same in Aus: the gulf is HUGE)!

[Occasional Fan]

Well, that has a chance as long as we don't elect a Conservative government next week. I must say, Rachael, it gets my vote (your idea, not that nice Mr Howard). We - England that is - should be leading the efforts to develop cricket around the world.

[Victor Frankenstein]

I would prefer to see it in terms of those teams being invited to tour the country to play against the county sides or take part in the cup games than force the counties to take on players at the expense of spots for potential england players.

It's a very egalitarian plan but at the end of the day the county championship is meant to be for making england a better team not improving other nations teams at the expense of our own (as is the case at the moment with most teams being chock full of aussies and saffers... nice one ECB)

[Andy Mellon]

I'm more with VF here - counties shouldn't be forced to employ dead weight that they wouldn't play. A better idea is allowing ICC member countries to compete in county level games - such as Scotland and Ireland in the C&G Cup, Kenya competed in the West Indian domestic game and this year Namibia competed in Zimbabwe's domestic structure (and finished 2nd!). This might be a better idea to help create competitions for these teams to compete in. Maybe a north american domestic championship could be launched to include the USA and Canada and any other teams that don't compete in the West Indian structure (Bermuda, Grenada etc.)

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

I'm more with VF here - counties shouldn't be forced to employ dead weight that they wouldn't play

I've no problem with that.. but if we're cutting out the dead wood let's start by axing 10-12 1st class counties.

It doesn't matter how many overseas players / non-qualified players get in.. there will STILL be too many places available for the rest. It's not as if the promising players from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the West Indies are going to cause a lowering of standards: one only has to look at Derbyshire and Leicestershire to know that ain't possible.

OK, I'll admit to actually having a lot of time for county cricket as it stands... and even for some of the arguments against having a complete free for all in terms of British / overseas players.. but I certainly don't back away from the key point i made: that the key question should always be "what can the county system give to cricket / cricketers" not something along the lines of "what edge can the domestic game give the national team".

One could make a case that the finest achievement of English first class domestic cricket has been it's contribution to the development of overseas players: Wasim Akram stands as the most obvious example.. but no end of West Indians (for example) were once able to come over here for "finishing school"... to good effect.

How I wish the likes of Tino Best, Fidel Edwards, Dwain Bravo, the two Smiths and so on could have the same education.

[Ernest]

I have to agree with Victor here, it's bad enough that Gary Keedy will struggle to get a game with Lanc's because we have signed Murali, without "Having" to employ overseas players as well.
I would be in agreement with Rachael, and help these lesser cricket nations, so long as the stars like Murali could not play, but that again would cause a problem, because Murali is from Shri Lanka, and this country is on Rachaels list of nations to be helped, having Murali does not help, because he is better than all the English spinners, not against what Rachael says in principal, but it is not workable.
I think we should all remember we are not that rich in players ready to take Test places if major England players were injured, we have had numeruos threads on this issue.

A radical idea would be to let there be two other teams in the county championship, made up of deprived players, by deprived I mean adiquate coaching ect.

[Maranello]

Rachael you make some valid points, and I am particularly intrigued by the romantic notion OF and you have articulated, of 'the County game specifically, and England in general, doing all it can to promote and develop cricket around the world'.

Unfortunately, the real world does not work like that, as the many indignant replies in this thread show. County cricket, as it exists, is a professional sport and hence, ultimately, responsible to its paymasters, the viewing public. I am not sure the County cricket viewing public have much of an appetite for any more "Johnny Foreigners" coming to their green and pleasant shires and besmirching them. In any case, the paymasters of County cricket generally feel that it exists to support the English national team; this is a perfectly valid position to hold, and even I tend towards it. However, the best way to support the national team is to raise the level of County cricket, so that it has that real competitive edge, that drive, that passion, which truly tests the players, and provides the spectators with some real cricket, just like the Aussie domestic cricket does. If we do not want to decrease the number of counties from 18 to say 8, then this raising of the standard can be done best by bringing in promising young colts from places such as WI, Pak, Bang, SL, etc, players who have everything to prove, a lot to gain and lots to provide their employers; these raw talents can replace the "dead wood", the career county cricketers who litter the landscape.

Yes, make no mistake about it. More than half the 'English' players in County cricket are indeed dead wood, in that they will never even have a hope to be merely considered for an England spot. Forget has-beens; these guys are "never-weres". As such, bringing in some players of better repute, and certainly far greater potential, from overseas would provide the paying public with some better cricket. Surely no Lancastrian, and certainly not Ern, would argue that signing Wasim Akram was a bad move, as that meant that some "promising English prospect" could not get a place in the Lancashire first XI for ten years. However, when Wasim first signed for the Red Rose county, he did so not as the world's best-ever left arm bowler but simply yet another untested and unproven prospect from Pakistan. Lancashire took a punt on him because of Imran's faith in the youngster, and as a result a truly symbiotic bond was formed; a relationship from which both the County and the cricketer benefitted immensely. However, the real winner surely was the sport of Cricket, and all those fortunate enough to see from close quarters one of the truly gifted athletes to play this game. Would this have happened in the current climate, where every foreign signing is scrutinised by the "fans" for authenticity, and threats are issued that season tickets will be cancelled? I doubt it. Even if it can happen today, it will not if we carry on down this road of deriding most foreign players as shameless mercenaries. Are they any worse than the local players in their mercantile inclinations? Of course not.

The fact is, there are too many County cricketers, many of them are mediocre and treat cricket as one would treat any other job - in fact, maybe some bank cashiers and McDonald's burger flippers bring greater motivation to their chosen vocations than some of these mediocre "never-weres". Replacing these run-of-the-mill, middling and indifferent career county players with some genuine overseas prospects would be an inspired move; the counties would benefit, the paying public would see much better cricket (albeit from players with a different coloured skin), the standard of the game in some "developing" or poorer nations would rise, and hence overall, cricket would be the main beneficiary.

[acker]

Originally Posted by DaveGillespie

Hopefully we may see a couple of the above mentioned getting overseas contracts next season - I am sure someone like Derbyshire or Somerset could do with a quality spinner like Rafique, and it would doubtless be a cheaper option than the aforementioned dodgy passport merchants.

Your thoughts, please.

There is nothing dodgy about the "Aussie's" being considered Dave. Note the 33rd Aussie in line for an international position is probably of equal or greater ability than the "18th Englishmen is in the England Team" or the best "Bangladeshi is in the Bangladesh team".
Thats life , thats why Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan & now Chelsea buy the best soccer players.
Some times the 33rd ranked Aussie is more likely to get you a trophy than the best Bangladeshi. Thats life..

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

But we're not talking about the 33rd best ausses, were talking about the 33333rd best aussie who once visited an EU country and can now play county cricket as a kolpak player, for less money than a county pro, and often at a lesser standard. I've no problem with the a tino best or a top bangaldeshi player coming in, in fact I'd welcome it but we need to get shot of the kolpak tosh than is currently in the game.