Cricket Migration - The English Game

For all the faults of county cricket and the mass amount of imports in the county game who become England qualified there are also a growing number of players on the international stage who have benefited from their times in county cricket. Jacques Rudolph renounced his international career and took up a contract with Yorkshire under the Kolpak rule. After 4 years of county cricket Rudolph returned to South Africa a vastly improved, potentially finished article and has prospered in domestic cricket over there and has now been selected into a strong South African team for their forthcoming two test series against Australia. Here is a player who has basically abused the system – renouncing his international ambitions to play in England as a Kolpak player (thus not being deemed an overseas player) then returning to South Africa when his circumstances have changed. I have no inclination to see Rudolph play international cricket for England, nor do I think county cricket suffers for this abuse (in fact I think it is a benefit in small numbers) but let’s not pretend that England are the sole transgressors in the import/export of players.

The ECB did not tempt Jonathan Trott or Kevin Pietersen over to the UK to play for England. Both came over on their own, decent players looking for better opportunities- both improved in county cricket so much so that they were deemed good enough for international selection. I have no grudge with people who are doing what’s best for their career or family – so let’s not criticise the ECB for selecting the best players that are available to them – whether they are South African born, Indian born or Scarborough born. The truth is Pietersen wasn’t even considered a frontline batsman and was always on the outskirts of domestic cricket back in his native South Africa. Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker may have been born in South Africa but both moved to the UK in their early teens and have learned nearly their entire cricket in the Surrey youth setup, the same could be said of Jason Roy, another South African born player who could represent England in the future.

Faf du Plessis is the most obvious of the guys who has abused the system to his advantage. He says of his choice ‘"When I signed for Lancashire, I wanted to sign for three years and then not play county cricket again, because by that time I backed myself to be in the South African set-up," and it is clear that he benefited from the choice as he says "In county cricket you play 18 four-day games a season, two one-day competitions and 18 twenty-over games, but in South Africa you play five or six of each. It's a lot of cricket but as a batter you really do learn a lot from county cricket."

Junaid Khan is another who seems to have benefited from the fruits of county cricket, this time as an overseas professional. This last month he has put in very consistent performances to help Pakistan to claim victory against Sri Lanka and claimed of his spell in county cricket with Lancashire ‘"That stint was very helpful. There I learnt how to seam, how to swing the ball, how to bowl a yorker." It seems a bit farfetched that county cricket taught him all those skills in half a season but there is no doubt a spell in county cricket tends to help develop and round an individual.

There seems no shortage of players talking up county cricket recently. Zaheer Khan is another who had a season as overseas pro at Worcestershire and widely acclaims this period in his career where he finally took responsibility and learned the requisite disciplines for international cricket. Zaheer after the summer series has been advocating some of Indians younger players to come and play county cricket – normally a request denied by the BCCI – which looks very foolhardy given the troubles many of the youngsters had over in England.

As I write this Praghan Ohja is another who has returned from a spell in county cricket and a spell out of the international setup to return to the fold and has been spectacularly successful in the current India/West Indies test. As he says “When you play there, you are given a lot of responsibility and they expect you to win games for them. That helps you grow as a cricketer”. Darren Bravo and Kane Williamson are another pair who have returned from what can be considered average spells as overseas pro’s this season that have slotted back into their international teams with success and will surely benefit in the long term from their experiences this season.

For every Meaker, Kieswetter or Trott there has been a Du Plessis, Rudolph and Riaz who have gone the opposite way. What is clear is that even with the apparent averageness of county cricket at present it is the finishing ground for many players on the verge of international success. As the county game is an 18 county affair and most of the England internationals don’t participate I think it’s good that high quality foreigners pad the squads of county teams. It does improve the standard and cricket in the UK has a lot of competition and with an 18 team setup over a convoluted schedule there is a need to make sure the standard doesn't fall much behind that of other countries domestic setups.  What is annoying is the average 30 year old South African who isn’t good enough to play domestic cricket in South Africa coming over here and taking a youngsters place in a team where he might be a small improvement in the short run but the Kolpak player isn’t a) improving the standard of county cricket massively and b) has no chance of ever playing cricket for England so in the long run is having a negative effect on the English game.

The fact is that now England is a culturally diverse country and there are people living here born all over the world. London has one of the most diverse populations of any city in the world. It is easier than ever to get up and move elsewhere to better your lives. It is only logical that more and more people who represent England at any sport are going to have parents born abroad or themselves been born abroad. These people shouldn’t be demonized but celebrated for their success both in life and in the sports arena and hopefully will be a guide to others. David Cameron may have claimed that “Multiculturalism has failed” but the UK has borne the fruits of immigration for many years and will continue to into the future regardless of the words of a prime minister preening to the working class white voter.