Pick your England team for the first test next summer

[ParkedTheBus]

I don't think Robson considers himself "poached". He decided he wanted to play for his mother's country and resisted attempts by Australia to get him to play for them.
How can someone be a foreign player just because one parent isn't from the UK? You may have a point with KP but Sam Robson is a very bad example.

I consider him a foreign player because he has played for Australia under-19s in official Youth Internationals.

 

[karolkarol]

The ICC should follow FIFA's lead and make players unavailable for other nations once they have officially played for one.

I think you need to get your facts right about FIFA eligibility criteria.

 

[Lebanna]

I consider him a foreign player because he has played for Australia under-19s in official Youth Internationals.

Yet he also played for the England Lions, so one way or the other he will have been "poached" by a nation. But he has dual nationality by birth right and therefore he is completely at liberty to choose who he plays for. I have no issue with that what so ever. As Barmy said, players like Morgan/KP/Rankin who are essentially non-English are more of an issue than Robson.

 

[ParkedTheBus]

I think you need to get your facts right about FIFA eligibility criteria.

Let me give you an example: Fernando Reges(FC Porto) played for Brazil in the under-19 South American Championship. Since he represented Brazil in an "official" match, he has not been allowed to play for Portugal, where he has resided for the past 4-5 years, though he did not play for Brazil in an official full-international match.

 

[SpitfiresKent]

Can't really complain with the squad chosen to be honest. Stokes has only just returned from injury (but you could also argue that Prior has just returned...) And Finn gets more game time in county cricket.

I don't know enough about Robson so I guess we'll see how he goes, it's maybe a bit harsh on Carberry though as he did OK in the Ashes.

I remember Plunkett bowling back in 2007 for England and he wasn't all that but a lot of people have said that he has got fitter and faster so once again we'll see.

I'm not a big fan of Woakes BUT he is our best all-rounder after Ben Stokes although I'd be surprised if he actually gets a game.

Here's my preferred line up for the first test:

Cook (c)
Robson
Ali
Bell
Root
Ballance
Prior (wk)
Jordan
Broad
Plunkett
Anderson

 

[Aislabie]

I'd stick Plunkett at eight, but otherwise go with the same thing.

 

[War]

Yet another foreign player playing for England. I dont mind players like Prior, KP and Strauss since they have not represented their nation at any level, but poaching players like Morgan, Rankin, Robson, Trott and Kieswetter, who have represented other nations in official matches of different levels is just disgusting. The ICC should follow FIFA's lead and make players unavailable for other nations once they have officially played for one.

Ha i don't know why outsiders always like to say Strauss & Prior are foreign. They are not, they are as 100% English, both parents are. They just happened to be born in S Africa maybe on family vacation or some other unknown reason to the general public.

Former England players like Colin Cowdrey, Nasser Hussain & Ted Dexter were born in India & Italy under similar circumstances.

KP, Morgan, Rankin, Trott, Kieswetter & Ballance were not poached. The escaped from the quota situation in S Africa & the messy situation in Zimbabwe to seek careers in England. While Morgan & Rankin wanted to play test cricket due to Ireland unable to play.

So the ECB didn't send scouts to lure them to play, all were personal decisions by the players.

Robson as others have said is not poached, as others have said he has dual nationality.

Jordan was the only player who was really paached, since he was born in Barbados (although he has English grandparents) & when he was 15, he got some ECB cricket scholarship & England have spent the last few years convincing him to play for England instead of Windies.

But it is true that cricekt does not have a clear policy about how players can chance nationality, like FIFA. Their is some clarity between how it works between the major 10 nations - but their is certainly a sense that major nations could poach associate team star players at will.

If this was football, Morgan & Rankin certainly couldn't have played for England.

 

[karolkarol]

Let me give you an example: Fernando Reges(FC Porto) played for Brazil in the under-19 South American Championship. Since he represented Brazil in an "official" match, he has not been allowed to play for Portugal, where he has resided for the past 4-5 years, though he did not play for Brazil in an official full-international match.

I'll give you Trott, I have no idea of his parentage but Robson, Kieswetter and Pietersen were all entitled to UK citizenship having at least 1 UK citizen parent. The difference with Fernando is that he had no ties at all to Portugal therefore couldn't switch nationality having played a competitive underage match for Brazil. Nor did he have 5 years continuous schooling in Portugal which would also have allowed him to switch nationality.

In footballing terms Robson, Kieswetter and Pietersen would have been allowed 1 switch of national team before their 21st birthday.

Morgan and Rankin, in my opinion as an Irishman and as a Northern Ireland football fan (who are often on the wrong end of eligibility issues), shouldn't be playing for England.