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Hypothetical Welsh team

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
They played another similar game in 2005 - it was England vs Hampshire then. In fact, myself and our esteemed Vice-Administrator who shares my name attended. Would have been Pickup and Hingston too, if they hadn't ducked-out. :dry:
I was actually at that game. Watching from the pavillion actually. This was the one where they had the 10-ish over beer match at the end because the actual ODI type game finished so early, yes?
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
The first thing about Wales as a test nation is that they would not be expected to compete with England in the beginning (or ever regularly). They would be a new Test nation but the point is that they would be the best prepared of any new Test nation.

Wales would look to be competetive with Bangladesh, Zim, the Associates, West Indies and New Zealand (based on sim pop levels and sporting rivalry).

A few points on Glamorgan being a weak county
The quality of players has probably declined slightly since the 1990s but there are other reasons that are positive why Glam can be seen as a weak county.

  • Highest number of players born within thier immediate geographical area (maybe excl. Yorks)
  • No Kolpak players
  • No foreign players playing on an ancesteral British passport
  • So by far the most localised team filled by players from the actual region rather than imports

There also seems to be a train of thought that all Welsh national team players would have to be born in Wales. I dont see why one standard should be for England and another for Wales. There would be a number of foreign born players available to bolster the squad.

In the last 3 years alone England have given debuts in either Test or ODIs to 8 players born outside England itself. Geraint Jones, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Simon Jones, Jamie Dalrymple and Ed Joyce. Thats a pretty big number for such a short period of time and obviously Wales would add a player or two in a similar fashion.

An area that at the beginning would strengthen the squad is the joint nature of the England and Wales Cricket Board (now ECB). England and Wales are currently linked as a whole and complete entity. There is nothing to seperate them as they are singular. This would make many non-British born, ECB qualified, British passport holders available for Wales (if they so chose).

They have qualified for Wales as Wales is part of the current Board that they have qualified for and they carry a British passport rather than an English one (which obviously doesnt exist) and as they were born outside of England they are not by birth English.

If Wales became a Test nation then any current player fitting the bill could declare themselves available for selection. Obviously after the initial declaration then future players would have to reside in Wales before qualifying as the split will have happened.

That opens up a large pool of players that were available for the England and Wales team but would now be available for England or Wales.

An All Welsh Team would look something like this

David Hemp FC 13711 runs @ 36.66 ODIs 17 games bat av 29.20
Born in Bermuda but played Welsh schools and has played for Glamorgan since 1991. Represented Bermuda in the 2007 WC.

Mike Powell FC 9852 runs @ 39.88
Called up due to injuries to Englands 2004 NatWest squad but didnt play.

Ben Wright England U 19s
Batsman and occasional seamer that was born in England but has been at Glamorgan for a while and played for Wales.

Daniel Cherry Former England U17
Has had a diappointing career but has a FC double hundred to his name.

Gareth Rees
Only at the beginning of his career he averaged mid-30 in FC cricket.

Mark Wallace wkt ECB Academy 2003-03

Ryan Watkins
Average career stats but a useful allrounder.

Darren Thomas England A 98/99 FC 504 wickets @ 31.79
Experienced seam bowler and hard hitting batsman

Robert Croft 21 Testss and 50 ODIs

Simon Jones 18 Tests and 8 ODIs

Huw Waters England U 19s
Welsh born fast bowler that is dubbed the 'new Simon Jones' and has had a good start to his career.

There are also a number of talented young players coming through like James Harris.

Now if you added 2-3 foreign born British passport holders to that team (esp batsmen) you would have a very tidy group that would certainly be capable of competeing against the lower level Test sides. If its good enough for England (3 from the last test against WI and 4 0f the WC squad were born outside the UK) then its certainly good enough for Wales. Also maybe a certain G. Jones would be available :) .
 
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Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
That 11 is dire though.

I wouldn't back them to be at all competitive.
Thats the All-Welsh team and it has declined in standard compared to the team that could have been put out in the 1990s.

Supplimented with a few non-Welsh born, British qualified players (like England do) then it could be a good team.

As it stands there is no doubt it isnt that strong but being poor by County standards doesnt mean they cant compete with the weaker nations.
 

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
As the case is with the football team, Wales aren't good enough to be competitive with other European sides even if they may posess one or two quality players at a time. I always reckoned a lot of them wished Wales was part of England in that they could have had international success. We don't want the same thing with cricket now.
 

Anna

International Vice-Captain
STEFFAN JONES, you morons 8-)

Bowling averages Mat Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4 5 10
First-class 105 17668 10500 272 6/25 38.60 3.56 64.95 6 1
List A 157 7112 6190 213 6/56 6/56 29.06 5.22 33.38 7 3 0
Twenty20 19 386 557 23 3/26 3/26 24.21 8.65 16.78 0 0 0

Not the best, but not the worst either. He's having a pretty good season with the bat so far: averaging 66.43.
 
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Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
STEFFAN JONES, you morons 8-)

Bowling averages Mat Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4 5 10
First-class 105 17668 10500 272 6/25 38.60 3.56 64.95 6 1
List A 157 7112 6190 213 6/56 6/56 29.06 5.22 33.38 7 3 0
Twenty20 19 386 557 23 3/26 3/26 24.21 8.65 16.78 0 0 0

Not the best, but not the worst either. He's having a pretty good season with the bat so far: averaging 66.43.
:) Decided against him as his FC record is so poor and people could use that as a criticism of the weakness of the team. However, Id probably have him in the basic 11 (he lose out with the additions of the non-Welsh born players). He is an experienced seamer and not the worst batsman with a FC hundred against a Test nation in the bag.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
I was actually at that game. Watching from the pavillion actually. This was the one where they had the 10-ish over beer match at the end because the actual ODI type game finished so early, yes?
Haha! :laugh: Yes, it was. What an amazing coincidence!
 

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