Overseas Players

[The Phantom Ram]

Who do you think is your counties best overseas player - in you lifetime - and what do you think of your current overseas player?

We have had a lot in my time as a Derbyshire fan - going back to about 1986 - the better ones were probably Michael Holding, although he was not at his peak with us, Ian Bishop, Dean Jones and Mohammed Azharuddin (sp). I would probably go with Azharuddin as my favourite as I saw the most of him.

As far as our current crop go - Di Venuto and Moss - I would say it is good that they are available all season to give the team consistancy but I feel a team as weak as Derbyshire need a better overseas player than Moss. Di Venuto is consistant though.

[Teatime FatCat]

Wow! Where do you start with our lot? Vince van der Bijl was apparently a bit special, but before my time. Wayne Daniel and Des Haynes took a lot of beating too, and were probably the best servants to the club. In recent years Langer and Fleming were good but all too brief.

I'll plump for Desmond I think.

[Andy Mellon]

Essex have had some great foreign players - Ken McEwan was amazing to watch in the early 80s. He was followed by Allan Border who introduced a young, up and coming Mark Waugh to the appreciative Essex crowds. After several years of watch Waugh's fluid strokeplay, he was replaced by the equally good to watch Salim Malik. In more recent years, we've enjoyed watching Stuart Law batter county attacks into submission and more recently still, the elegant strokeplay of Andy Flower. Danish Kaneria bowled fantastically for us last year though.

The least said about Scott Brant or Ryan ten Doeschate the better though!!
My favourite has to be Mark Waugh though - such great technique he makes the game look oh-so-easy!

[Notts Exile]

Notts have had a few over the last ten or fifteen years but none have come near Hadlee and Rice. Franklyn Stepehnson did The Double in his first season which was pretty incredible! Chris Cairns did good things, Stuart MacGill was bright for a while. David Hussey has been very consistent and Stephen Fleming is obviously a class act. Of course Notts did have foreigners before I started watching - a real shame I didn't get to see Sobers!

On the other hand Jimmy Adams and Nathan Astle were nothing special. Greg Blewett did far better for Notts than he did for any of his other counties!

And we've got Younis Khan stepping in for Fleming for a few weeks which ought to be interesting - that's a very hard act to follow!

[Mongoose]

Lancs have also had some belters. Murali is special, and seems to be able to take wickets at will, on any surface, in county cricket. But overall I think Wasim has to be no.1 foreigner at Lancs. He had about 14 years with us and was absolutley brilliant throughout that time. He had an impact in both the Chamionship and the one-day competitions, and deserved to get a county championship winner's medal for his efforts.

[greg]

Seeing as we haven't had many it's fairly easy,Darren Lehmann has been brilliant over the years.Jacques and Harvey this years duo are good players and are doing their job for the team so i have no complaints.

[Aussie-Yank]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Ram

Who do you think is your counties best overseas player - in you lifetime - and what do you think of your current overseas player?

There was reports in Australia that one reason for England's poor standard in Cricket over the last few decades is the acceptance of over seas players into the county championships. Do you think that these overseas platers take the spots that otherwise could have gone to up and coming English players?

I see Australia is taking up a few more than normal overseas players in its State sides - Thorpe for NSW to name one.

[Mongoose]

I don't see how, for example, Lancs fielding Murali or Wasim instead of a fringe 1st XI player would make English cricket weaker. To raise standards you need top have decent competition for places. Otherwise, all these English guys who get to country cricket won't find it a stern enough test and won't develop accordingly. People improve by being tested. Players need to be tested by a high standard to get into the team, and by a high standard of opposition once they're there.

[The Phantom Ram]

I personally think that if the rule was tweaked slightly it culd improve the game beyond recognition. If it was changed to say each team can only field 2 (or maybe even 3) non-English qualified players - This would include Irish, Dutch etc, not just the test playing countries - every team then would have 8 or 9 players in their side who if good enough could play for England. This would stop the counties filling their teams with second rate kolpakk (sp?) and make it more important to bring in 2 quality foriegn players who in turn would develop the young English talent.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Ram

every team then would have 8 or 9 players in their side who if good enough could play for England.

Unrealistic. 8 or 9 potential England Test players from 18 counties? That is almost 160 players. There are not that many English qualified players of such calibre; in fact, after the A team and academy lot, the pickings are fairly thin; there are maybe 40 or so players who could play for England, the other 120 are merely county journeymen with neither the talent nor the temperament to be anything else.

In any case, what you suggest (limiting European players) would be illegal and hence will never be implemented.