England or Great Britian?

[SeanTheSpitfire]

we should be playing as England, not great britain

[Lemming]

Originally Posted by Collyisamackem

Actually, KP's mother is from England.

If that is true then there is no problem!

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Ram

Can he play for England even though he has played tests for Zimbabwe?

As I understand it, yes. Stuart Law is now eligible to play for England despite having already played for Australia. We could have done with him 10, even 5 years ago. Probably too old now, as is Andy Flower really.

[English_Al]

Hmm, in some cases it's fairly blatant (Pietersen), in others like the guys mentioned here it's such a grey area. Though it does seem as though England have had the most controversy in this area, has anyone else noticed this?

For example, look at all the other cricketing nations, how many 'foreign' players have they got?

Wonder why this is...

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by English_Al

Hmm, in some cases it's fairly blatant (Pietersen), in others like the guys mentioned here it's such a grey area. Though it does seem as though England have had the most controversy in this area, has anyone else noticed this?

For example, look at all the other cricketing nations, how many 'foreign' players have they got?

Wonder why this is...

I believe it is a result of the previous county system England had. That system was not producing enough home-grown talent which meant that foriegners who grew up playing under a more competitive system were more equipted to handle test match cricket. As the new county system bears fruit over the next decade, i think you will find England will also become a team increasingly filled with home-grown talent.

[Glamorgan Wanderer]

I don't think it has that much to do with the strength/weakness of the county system.

It seems to me that the true 'foreigners' (that is say, those who do not have an English/Welsh parent or grandparent) who have represented England have been largely drawn from SA and Zim. During the 80s SA was banned from the Test arena and Zim didn't have test status and accordingly some very decent players decided to py their trade in England (where there are more professional cricketers than anywhere else) and were good enough (once qualified) to get in the test side. It might therefore be nothing more than historical accident.

In addition, whilst state cricket in Australia is generally accepted as having the highest standard of the domestic competitions of the various test nations I would find it difficult to accept that any of the other domestic competitions around the world are as tough as the County Championship.

[The Phantom Ram]

Originally Posted by English_Al

Wonder why this is...

Isn't it because as former colonies (no offence to anyone but that is how it was wasn't it?) these countries all have strong links with England? Where as Austrailia and Pakistan or West Indies and South Africa have no such link?

[Golden Boy James]

I am still confused. Who decides when a sporting team represents Great Britain or its' constituent parts? I am familiar with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each having their own team in competitions such as the World Cup, Five Nations and Commonwealth Games etc. I still haven't read a satisfactory answer as to why your representative cricket side plays under the banner of England when you look at personnel now (and in the past) that come from parts of the British Isles outside England. If a person doesn't want to represent Scotland in cricket, for example, does he have to complete residency qualifications in England? Please enlighten!

[Lemming]

I suppose what you could say is that the England team should strictly be called 'Great Britain' and then there would be no problem if we wanted to call up either a Welsh or Scottish player.

But cricket is a weird sport when it comes to representing nations, a good example is Rahul Dravid competing for Scotland in the National League division two.

To play for England I would expect you need to show a British passport and you're away.

[The Phantom Ram]

Is probably a good discussion point. The team can draw from about 15 islands all with there own nationality (I think)