English Domestic Cricket

[Kev]

It's 1 Usy.

 

[Ollie_H]

In my opnion, I think it should be more as ther overseas players as the bring experience from the international game and then bring it to the youngsters.

 

[Leicester Fox]

2 will do for me, it's the kolpaks that are the problem but then the clubs have so many of them that if you asked them to put out an all English XI you know they would have to play a lot of youngsters apart from at a few of the bigger counties.

 

[Kev]

LF, whats the difference between a kolpak and an overseas though? If you think there are too many kolpaks why add in another overseas? Thats even less places for English youth.

 

[usy]

Kolpaks are like one who are not really British but have the Citizenship, right, so they don't count as overseas..

I heard mushy was gonne gain the UK Citizenship?

 

[Animator!]

He will do after this season, however the state of his body and the workload he puts himself through during a season means that he probably won't be playing in the '09 season or will be playing a much reduce role as a first team player at Sussex. I do however have no doubts at all that he will stay at Sussex in some capacity, it's well known that he loves the club and during his five years in Sussex already he has spent a lot of his time coaching spinners around Sussex. His family also love the area.

Onto the foreign professionals debate, I think it would be a much more sensible idea to impliment an 8/9 English players rule. Thus allowing a team 3 Overseas/Kolpaks/Foreign born citizens allowed in a starting eleven for any one game. Of course teams can have more, but with only 3 allowed to start it will reduce the numbers. Whilst reducing the number of non Brits playing in County Cricket under whichever guise we have to make sure it wouldn't impact on the quality. I'd much rather have young English players having to break through a good side and then perform against a couple of players in the opposition who have international experience or are prolific at County level, th improving the quality necessary to succeed in English cricket which would hopefully have the desired effect of improving the English game.

However nationality it a big grey area. Overseas is obviously very clear cut, and so is Kolpak these days, but with the idea i brought up in my previous paragraph of 8/9 English players a team with only 3 non Brits. How would you classify someone like Kevin Pietersen at this point in his career, or even someone like Tim Ambrose who lived in Australia till he was 17? You'd have to put some kind of marker down as the precedent to use, for instance something like having had to live in English for 5 years previous to making your county debut.

 

[Leicester Fox]

LF, whats the difference between a kolpak and an overseas though? If you think there are too many kolpaks why add in another overseas? Thats even less places for English youth.

This year Leicestershire's side will have at 5 or 6 kolpaks in and 1 overseas player. I'd much rather see 0 kolpaks and 2 overseas players.

 

[MUFC1987]

Is that all bad though?

Yes its going to be painful this season, maybe next. But if English County Cricket can't attract top overseas talent any more perhaps it gives more chances for home-grown talent to progress.

Counties are always going to sign some Journeyman Overseas player rather than try a youngster though. All we're seeing now is that instead of a World Class Overseas player we've got the likes of Louw and Ryan Harris, which to me is pointless. At least with a Murali, or a Kumble young players can learn from them. The example I know of is at Somerset, where we signed Ponting, then Smith and then Langer and it's the reason the club has been transformed. Having a quality player to lead the side is good in my view, as it gives players a chance to learn and the crowd a player to watch. But now the players want the IPL money and the Counties have to fit a budget hence the Kolpak players.

We need something to say that there should be 8 English players in a team, but it can't happen legally and I don't see all 18 Counties agreeing to it when the likes of Northants have about 15 players who don't fit the bill.

 

[Kev]

All respect to Louw but he's been signed in a last minute panic, I get the feeling we will see a couple more signings like this this season as the clubs have been left in the lurch somewhat.

For usy - http://www.ecb.co.uk/ecb/publications/kolpak-ruling,499,BP.html

 

[Sureshot]

In my opnion, I think it should be more as ther overseas players as the bring experience from the international game and then bring it to the youngsters.

You learn the most from time in the middle, by knowing your game. Experienced voices are good, but they aren't as good as time in the middle/with the ball.

 

[freddiw]

No way for English cricket we should have

- 2 overseas players
- 3 players under 21

and a limit of maybe 2 over 30

If you think about it the Domestic comp is to make the English players better to strenghten the national team

- Less games - when you get out and dont score runs you should be fuming. In Eng Domestic you know you have a another game in the next few days.

- Bigger deal - there is : no support---Average coaching----Cricket is not that big in schools

- SCHOOL CRICKET NEEDS TO BE MADE COMPETITIVE

 

[slade]

You about adopting a zonal system similar to the one in India. The existing county system would continue to exist but you create another league, with regional teams, made up from counties e.g. south east: middlesex, surrey, kent. If this league was for English qualified players only and only had 6 teams, this would provide the intermediate step between test and first class cricket. Plus, if the ECB provided bonuses to counties when a player is called up to zonal cricket, there would be an incentive to the county to back promising English youth rather than mediocre kolpak players.

 

[usy]

All respect to Louw but he's been signed in a last minute panic, I get the feeling we will see a couple more signings like this this season as the clubs have been left in the lurch somewhat.

For usy - http://www.ecb.co.uk/ecb/publications/kolpak-ruling,499,BP.html

i get it...

I'm still not a kolpak , I can play English county.. but i suck at cricket lol.

 

[treva]

Should be 1 overseas in my opinion, and i'm glad it has changed. Should be 4 or 5 English U25's in each match squad also. With the kolpak's playing a lot 1 overseas will do it for foreigners. Say there are 2 kolpak's then that leaves 3 or 4 slots for players over 25 from England, so plenty of room for Caddick's and Ramprakash's.

England need to look for the future, and also players who are on the books at U19 level and below should be included a lot more in county cricket. I love to see Andy Caddick and Marcus Trescothick at my favourite club Somerset, but I also want to see young stars like James Hildreth and Michael Munday. I think the rules I mentioned above would give a good mix of what the fans want to see and get younger players more experienced at a high level.

 

[Kev]

Little bit of a shift around at Middlesex today.

South African allrounder Vernon Philander will now play as the clubs overseas player for the start of the season, replacing Noffke who had previously signed.

Also Friedel de Wet will now not be playing for Middlesex and is replaced by Australian fast bowler Dirk Nannes who has a Dutch passport.