Nice to see couple of Associate players in the CPL

[Cric123]

I suggested a few months back that each of the Big Bash franchise could provide a place to a player from the associate nations and it's nice to see the CPL has been proactive in this regard. There is an American and a Canadian playing in this year's tournament. It could be an incentive to raise the game in the associate world if a carrot is dangled in front of these players.

By the way, while WI may not be a threat in test cricket for now, I think they will remain a potent force in the limited over forms of the game. Guys like Fletcher, Smith, Charles, Russell, Sammy, Gabriel, Bravo, Simmons, Holder, Taylor are a force in the shorter forms of the game. They have every chance of winning next year's T20 World Cup. Holder can become a dangerous bowler if he can raise his pace by 5mph to the high 80s.

 

[Stapel]

A possible flaw is that many associate players are not really from associate countries. The Dutch team that beat PNG twice this week has only 4 Dutch bred players. The rest are SA/NZ/Aus guys with a Dutch grandmother.

 

[Daemon]

Parents and grandmothers really shouldn't count..if you don't work or live in the country, you don't play for them.

 

[Stapel]

Parents and grandmothers really shouldn't count..if you don't work or live in the country, you don't play for them.

The point is that most Dutch import players actually work here, mostly as professional player/coach. I'm fine with that. But the proposed system to force Associate players into BigBash won't help associate born and bred players too much.

 

[Cric123]

The Canadian player is of Indian origin but born in Canada while the American was born in America. I think the American is of African-American heritage, not West Indian, which is good to see because the whole idea is to promote the game within the local communities not just among expats and their kids. Because that's the only way it can take a real hold. As for Holland, I think the Dutch are pretty good with this. They usually have half or more of the team made up of locals, sprinkled with players from other countries but with Dutch heritage. This is in contrast to countries like the UAE, Canada, US where all the players are usually derived from the expat South Asian and West Indian communities.

I think reserving a place for associate players by each of the franchise would boost competition among players from these countries. Can you imagine a young Afghan or American player selected by a Big Bash franchise would do,to them . You can even pay fraction of average salary, but the experience of travelling through Australia for a month and a half and spending time around world class players, training with them, staying with them, etc would be an immense thrill. The competition to be scouted and selected would drive standards among associate players.

 

[cnerd123]

I feel I must mention that 70% of UAE's population is made up of expats. They never can and never will field a team of 11 'locals'. It's just not feasible.
The current UAE team that played in the World Cup had 2 Emiratis and the rest had lived in UAE for a significant amount of their lives. They weren't overseas henchmen for hire.