CRICKET

[Alex]

How do you feel about this, ? 
Tawanda Muyeye from Zimbabwe plays his cricket in Uk, the ECB has said they will fast track his British citizenship bid so that he can play for England.  I know nothing about cricket so perhaps this is the norm, but is it really 'cricket' old boy ?

[Michael Rolls]

not to my mind, but the qualification rules to play for a country are, to my mind, a bit off.

[GrannyMac]

How do you feel about this, ? 
Tawanda Muyeye from Zimbabwe plays his cricket in Uk, the ECB has said they will fast track his British citizenship bid so that he can play for England.  I know nothing about cricket so perhaps this is the norm, but is it really 'cricket' old boy ?

Depends how good a player he is 😉

[Diasi]

How do you feel about this, ? 
Tawanda Muyeye from Zimbabwe plays his cricket in Uk, the ECB has said they will fast track his British citizenship bid so that he can play for England.  I know nothing about cricket so perhaps this is the norm, but is it really 'cricket' old boy ?

I'd rather see a surgeon fast-tracked rather than someone whose only contribution, if you can even call it that, to the UK is to whack a ball with a piece of wood, or throw a ball at several pieces of wood.

[Michael Rolls]

agreed

[1955vintage]

It used to be South Africans, the Smith brothers, Lamb, Grieg and Zimbabweans such as Hick.

It is wrong.

[Michael Rolls]

My take -as with a number of experts in field, is that what matters is were someone learned their cricket - a couple of examples - Freddie Brown, an England skipper in the fifties, was born is South America somewhere whilst his father was working there. Both parents were English and returned to the UK when Freddie was a child and he grew up, and learned his cricket, here. Phillipe Edmonds, similar story except, from memory, his father worked in Europe somewhere when Phil was born, but again he grew up and learned his cricket here - can't call anyone offhand to mind - but there have been folk born to Forces during overseas postings - again, fine by me. Hick, on the other hand, played international cricket for Zimbabwe - as Zimbabwe wasn't a Test nation at the time, it was deemed to be OK to regard him as England qualified - personally, I disagree. The Smith brothers  had English parents so were seen as England qualified even though born in RSA. I'm ambivalent over them. Many sports regard one's parents as qualifying one for their country, and, unlike Hick, neither brother played for any other nation regardless of status.
Moving from cricket, to my mind one of the worst examples of this sort of thing is the female runner, Zola Budd. Born in RSA, moved with her parents to to UK already a young adult and successful competitor, had citizenship rushed through, and competed for the UK at the 1984 Olympics. At the time the RSA was banned from international sport. Then the ban was lifted and Miss Budd competed in the 1992 Olympics - for the RSA!

[1955vintage]

Colin Cowdrey was born in India. If you have English parents and were educated in England then you're English wherever you were born.

[Michael Rolls]

absolutely - thanks, I had forgotten about Colin, and of course that is true about many men and women in the days of Empire and beyond

[Cassandra]

The list is endless, Ted Dexter was born in Italy, Alan Lamb, South Africa, the one who caused a lot of controversy was Basil D'Oliveira. Born in Cape Town he gained British Citizenship and first played for England in 1966, his inclusion  against his country of birth South Africa in 1968, saw the series cancelled and the banishment of that Country until 23 years later in 1991.

Even Ben Stokes has to own up to New Zealand, the full list as (not including the above is);

Tony Greig, Ian Greig, Chris Smith, Robin Smith, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Jonathan Trott,  Nick Compton, Michael Lumb, Jason Roy, Keaton Jennings, Tom Curran, Brydon Carse, K.S. Ranjitsinhji, Teddy Wynyard, Richard Young, Neville Tufnell, Douglas Jardine, Duleepsinhji, Nawab of Pataudi Sr. Errol Holmes, Norman Mitchell-Innes, George Emmett, Colin Cowdrey, John Jameson, Bob Woolmer, Robin Jackman, Nasser Hussain, Vikram Solanki, Min Patel

Johnnie Clay, Robert Croft, Jeff Jones, Tony Lewis, Austin Matthews, Hugh Morris, Gilbert Parkhouse, Pat Pocock, Greg Thomas, Maurice Turnbull, Cyril Walters, Steve Watkin, Allan Watkins, Simon Jones, Alan Jones, Phil Salt

Billy Murdoch, John Ferris, Sammy Woods, Albert Trott, Gubby Allen, Adam Hollioake, Ben Hollioake, Jason Gallian, Tim Ambrose, Sam Robson Mike Denness, Gavin Hamilton, David Larter, Gregor MacGregor, Ian Peebles, Eric Russell, Dougie Brown, Peter Such, Sir Tim O'Brien, Frederick Fane, Ed Joyce, Eoin Morgan, Graeme Hick, Paul Parker, Gary Ballance

Donald Carr, Paul Terry, Chris Lewis, Monte Lynch, Norman Cowans, Devon Malcolm, Derek Pringle, Jamie Dalrymple, Andy Caddick, Ben Stokes, Usman Afzaal, Owais Shah, Lord Harris, Pelham Warner, Wilf Slack, Neil Williams, Phil Edmonds, Neal Radford, Amjad Khan, Phillip DeFreitas, Dermot Reeve, Geraint Jones, Freddie Brown and Joey Benjamin.

I don't believe people should be able to play for a Country they have never lived in. Of course we created a Nation of historic un-godly's when we sent our former criminals to Australia and it has come back to bite us. We should have expected nothing less

[Alex]

I know most of you have no time for football, but I'm pretty sure to play for England you have to be English and I hope it stays that way 

[klondike]

Not many Mancunians playing for either City or United though are there? With top level football dominated by imports it's hardly any wonder that the national team is so crap.

[Cassandra]

I know most of you have no time for football, but I'm pretty sure to play for England you have to be English and I hope it stays that way 

I love football Alex and avidly watch The Premier League over here at all sorts of odd times. 'Soccer' is very popular in the 'States' too. I know many players could have represented alternate countries apart from England, due to mixed parentage. Many picked say Wales or Scotland, figuring they'd get many more caps and therefore earn a lot more 'cert' international money over relatively short careers.

[Cassandra]

Depends how good a player he is 😉

Originates from Zimbabwe, now aged 22 and is considered very talented. Won a scholarship to 'Eastbourne School' and created all sort of new records whilst there. Plays for Kent and 'The Oval Invincibles' in 'The Hundred Competition' and is definitely one for the future. His status is currently 'indefinite leave to stay', so he can apply for British Citizenship.

Good luck to him, I say and his story is an example of why when my father said "Cricket will provide you with every lesson you'll need in life" he was right.

[Michael Rolls]

I remember Niall telling me some years ago that on that particular Saturday Aston Villa had fielded a side without a single England qualified player in it