England or Great Britian?

[davo ramone]

Should England be playing under the Great Britian banner because Simon Jones is Welsh and not English? Or should they be called the World XI because Pietersen and G Jones are not English either? What do people out in the cricket world think?

[greg]

G Jones has Welsh parents and was born in Papua New Guinea so he is properly qualified player for me.We have had Welsh players at regular times over the years Tony Lewis,Robert Croft and Simon Jones dad spring to mind.Also there has been a couple of Jocks too in Mike Denness,Dougie Brown and Gavin Hamilton.It would confuse things if we suddenly became Great Britain but i can see your point.

As for KP and others over the years well Australia have done the same with Pascoe and Wessells to name but 2.It shouldn't be allowed but it is and we have to get on with it.

[Andy Mellon]

That's a rather cheeky thread starter Davo.

Geraint Jones's parents are Welsh. Just because he happened to be born in Papua New Guinea doesn't mean he ever held PNG citizenship. Cliff Richard was born in Lucknow, India. Are you disputing whether he's English?!?

The England cricket team are managed by the ECB. Despite the erroneous acronym, ECB stands for England and Wales Cricket board, and hence Wales should be represented by the England team. In fact, some Scots (Gavin Hamilton) or potentially Irish (Ed Joyce) can aim to qualify for England due to the greater challenge of playing test cricket against teams like Australia, rather than the toughest test being against Holland, if you play for Scotland or Ireland.

And as you brought this up, how about Andrew 'Aussie' Symonds. Born in the well known Aussie city of Birmingham, Warwickshire, England.

http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/7702.html

Would you like to tell me the difference between Symonds playing for Aus and G O Jones playing for England?

Obviously, Kevin Pietersen is a bit more of a bone of contention as he was born in South Africa to South African parents and should be South African. Fortunately for England, naturalisation occurs in a country after a period of time of residence and you get a passport. I'm sure this probably happened for Kasprowicz's family sometime in the past in Australia, and has certainly happened for some Aussie soccer players (Mark Viduka for example).

[greg]

Sounds like Davo is getting his excuses in early in case we win the series.

[Collyisamackem]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

he was born in South Africa to South African parents

Actually, KP's mother is from England, so he has quite a right to claim English nationality if he so wishes.

[Andy Mellon]

Fair enough Colly, but he still had to undergo a prolonged period of naturalisation so he didn't have a UK passport, despite having an English mum.

[greg]

That was because of playing in South Africa previously i think.

[greg]

The lunacy of the rules is that Stuart Law and Craig Spearman are available for England if they were selected.

[Andy Mellon]

Andy Flower must be near qualification, if he isn't already. That might solve the wicket keeping debate!!

[The Phantom Ram]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

Andy Flower must be near qualification, if he isn't already. That might solve the wicket keeping debate!!

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