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Ideal Number of overseas players in County Cricket

Ideal number of overseas players in County Cricket

  • 0

    Votes: 2 8.3%
  • 1

    Votes: 7 29.2%
  • 2

    Votes: 15 62.5%

  • Total voters
    24

Mr Mxyzptlk

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From an outsider's point of view I'd like to see as many as possible, but from an English point of view I would think that the less the better.
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
2 is about ideal... It simply gets rid of the two worst UK players from each county..

What I despise are the masses of European players who chase the pound sterling when they know full well they are not good enough to play for their country... But things like that are unlikely to change...
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Swervy said:
not good enough to play for which country?
Not sure if this rule applies to all of them, Scott Brant and Ryan Watson for example may not want to play for Zim at the moment... But for the large part these guys arent helping England produce test players...There are more who I cant remember off the top of my head....

Craig Spearman (NZ)
Nantie Hayward (SA)
Mike Hussey (AUS)
Phil Jacques (AUS)
Andrew Gait (ZIM?)
Scott Brant (ZIM)
Ryan Watson (ZIM)
Nick Pothas (SA)
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Armadillo said:
I'd say the more the merrier. It will only increase the profile of the english county season.
But it wont if more foreign guys who are blatently not international standard get into county XI's....
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
marc71178 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't he a fully bred overseas player?
Yeah I think your right... Hes just amazed me with his attitude to SA cricket I assumed he would be on an EU or trying to get citizenship here...

However, he has been playing for EP this winter, thats novel of him....
 

age_master

Hall of Fame Member
2 is good, they can work of each other etc.

a couple of overseas players should also push the english players harder cause there will be more players at a higher level, it also gives a truer picture of where a clubs players are at
 

iamdavid

International Debutant
Hmmm , there are several ways of looking at it.

Im of the belief that playing against the best makes you better ,
in the long run a developing English batsman will gain more from facing someone like Michael Kasprowics in the early stages of his carear than some county trundler like Neil Gunter.
Likewise the young bowler will learn more from bowling to Hussey or Hooper than he would charging in at the likes of Michael Gough.

Then there is the revenue factor , having draw card overseas players like Carl Hooper , Murali , Shoaib , etc will surely encourage more of a crowd following than the average county mugs would , thus more profits & raising the profile of the game.
Surely the youngsters will also learn alot from the experienced overseas players in the dressing room environment , they have tons of information to pass on , the sort of invaluable pointers & tips no amount of money spent on Academies & Indoor Training facilities can buy.

It also helps raise the general standard of play , helps narrow the gap between county & test cricket.


But on the other hand one must realise that every overseas player who comes in means a young Englishman will spend a year playing 2nd XI's , the clearest example being Rikki Clarke / Azhar Mahmood.

I really think that all things considered 2 overseas players per county should be fine , but that means 2 players who arent eligable to play for England.
I believe that EU regulations prevent the ECB from doing it so perhaps the counties could get together & form a bit of a gentlemans agreement , players like Spearman & Jaques who cheat the system will be the downfall of English cricket unless they take action.
 

Craig

World Traveller
Probably 1 and it does make counties choose wisely. But in retrospect they tend to go for Australia and South Africans and Pakistanis. And a West Indian fan once told me of that it deny's them the chance to learn in England and play more cricket whereas people like Richards, Sobers etc did.

In a sense he does have a point.
 

Swervy

International Captain
Craig said:
Probably 1 and it does make counties choose wisely. But in retrospect they tend to go for Australia and South Africans and Pakistanis. And a West Indian fan once told me of that it deny's them the chance to learn in England and play more cricket whereas people like Richards, Sobers etc did.

In a sense he does have a point.
true...but county cricket isnt there to help West Indian players
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Armadillo said:
Didn't Franklyn Rose play for Surrey last year.

He did...

I never knew he was so poorly thought of, I always thought he was one of the Ambrose/Walsh reliable old guard, obviously not....
 

Gems

Cricket Spectator
Actually, I may have to be in favour of 3. I currently endorse another sport where it used to be the case that 3 overseas players were used and it worked exceptionally well in a team of less players.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Langeveldt said:
He did...

I never knew he was so poorly thought of, I always thought he was one of the Ambrose/Walsh reliable old guard, obviously not....
Nope, one of the hoped replacements (even though he's rather older than King and co.)
He bowled absolute and utter crap in England in 2000 and was dropped never to be seen again (presumably, anyway).
But I was amazed how well he bowled at times last season. A massive improvement. Sadly, probably too late. 31 now, IIRR.
 

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