A Team Full Of Englishmen... Kind Of

Last Friday England’s one day side completed an expected series whitewash over Bangladesh in the three match series thanks to Craig Kieswetter (below). However, some are criticising the amount of non English born players, such as Kieswetter, in the current test and one day teams.

The criticism first started after England’s triumph in the 2005 ashes with Australian’s claiming South Africa had won the Ashes and not England after Kevin Pietersen’s century at the oval. Pietersen though has been criticised more due to his criticism South Africa’s non-white player quota which led him to come to England to look to play cricket. However, Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior, both South Africa born, have cemented their places in the England squad over the past 6 years and they haven’t been as largely criticised until now due to both growing up in England.

Now the issue has been brought back into the limelight with the debut of Jonathan Trott (below) in the 2009 Ashes series and last week Craig Kieswetter who was drafted into the one day side to open alongside Cook after Joe Denly failed to score big runs in the warm-up games in Abu Dhabi. Both players have played for South Africa Under-19’s and Trott for South Africa A and this has left some England fans angry.

One former captain in particular has criticised the use of players who have made the switch from South Africa to England. Michael Vaughan last summer accused Trott of having celebrated with his native South Africa side after their victory at Headingley when he was supposed to be 12^th man for England. Even though he denied the argument it does show the issue with playing for an adopted country.

Vaughan (below) amongst others have also criticised the current England team after the selection of Craig Kieswetter. The Somerset Wicket-Keeper had been groomed by England ever since he declared he wanted to play in England and not for South Africa and was immediately in the England Lions squad as soon as he was eligible to play. However, some former players have questioned this along with the Kolpak ruling which allows foreign players to stunt young English player’s development. Vaughan again has backed this calling for England to put out a “pure” English eleven.

Although not classed as English by many fans all those South Africans are technically English. Kevin Pietersen’s mother is English, England Captain Andrew Strauss’ mother is also English and he moved to England at the age of six, Matt Prior’s father is English and he moved to England aged 11 and Craig Kieswitter’s mother is Scottish and he lived here 3 months of the year before moving to England to do his A-levels. Jonathan Trott on the other hand has no close relation with England which many fans and critics of England have taken issue with.

Queries have also been raised about Eoin Morgan (above). The Irish born batsman chose to play for England as he is unable to play at the top level for his native country. However, the point to make is that England has used players not born in Britain before as have other nations and the fuss is only about the amount of non-English players in the squad. Former England players Allan Lamb, Tony Grieg and Basil D’Olivera all were from South Africa and Andy Caddick was a New Zealander.

Whilst other nations may complain about England using players born in different nations some nations in particular forget they also do this. A prime example is Andrew Symonds the Australian all-rounder who was born in Birmingham.

Questions do need to be asked about why England needs to turn to Trott and Kieswetter. Is there not enough talent within English cricket? Are the selectors missing out an giving good young batsmen the opportunity to play? It seems the former although many will ask why players such as Michael Carberry and Joe Denly aren’t given more of an opportunity.

Although the ECB seem to have won the battle with Kolpak players it seems that it is neglecting to take the same standards when selecting England squads. It seems that until this is rectified young English talent may be neglected.