Just to give you a taste of English cricket outside the test arena i thought I’d give you some insight into County Cricket.
There has always been a lot of Aussies playing domestic cricket in the UK. Everyone knows that. But the sheer numbers of them shocked me when I first moved over. I’m not talking about imports like Warner, Langer, Noffke, Magoffin, Cosgrove, David Hussey, Voges, and Rogers. I knew about their kind before I came over.
I mean guys who you will have never heard of who are playing because they have parents who were born somewhere in Europe or have become naturalised. Most of them have never even played more than a handful of games for their state, if at all. They are top club cricketers who have worked their way into County set ups.
Last year there was a couple of bigger names guys to play as “Englishmen” or as Kolpaks. Darren “Eyelids” Pattinson did so well that 11 games into his first class career his English passport got him a much maligned test debut. Dirk Nannes and Ryan Harris were also signed under the Kolpak loophole (I would explain it, but when something has it’s own wiki page you’re better off going there).
The really interesting players are guys like Callum Thorp, Mitchell Claydon, Jim Allenby, and Stewart Walters. All journeymen cricketers who have barely played for their state, or not at all. But all of them have decided to leave Australian cricket behind and try their luck in the UK.
There is no doubt that County cricket is easier to break into than Shield cricket. 3 times as many sides and almost double the amount of games (45 to 25) means at least 4 times as many players are used in the English Domestic system. If you were struggling to get a game at home, and you have a European Union parent on the couch, why wouldn’t you come over?
This isn’t a new thing, in recent years Pattinson, Dimi Mascarenhas, Tim Ambrose and Geraint Jones have done it and gone on to represent England. Alan Mulally, Martin McCague, Craig White and the Hollioake Brothers did so in the generation before.
For someone like Stewart Walters, who averages 22 with the bat and 57 with the ball, his chance of crashing into the West Australian side is minimal, but Surrey have shown a lot of faith in him. He is now a Naturalised Englishmen.
Callum Thorp, one of Durham’s top bowlers, is almost unplayable in county cricket with an average of 24; in shield cricket he barely played and has an average of 53. This year he was offered a contract with NSWales and declined it.
Mitchell Claydon plays with Thorp at Durham (although next year he could move for more playing time), he is a six foot six fast bowler who bowls a very heavy (overused modern cricket phrase alert) ball and looks like Peter Siddle’s Sydney beach bum cousin. His record is not superb (Av 32 for Durham) but he is only 26 and can get a lot better.
This really became evident to me recently when I was watching Leicestershire play and someone called Jim Allenby made runs. It was a nice knock, and Sky interviewed him after it. I was doing something else but my ears heard what was an unmistakable Aussie accent.
This happens all the time. I’ll be watching a domestic match and they’ll interview someone only for it to be some Aussie I have never heard of.
It isn’t just Aussies, there seems to be over a hundred South Africans playing county cricket at the moment. A couple of dozen West Indians as well. None of them playing as “imports” but playing as naturalised or kolpak players. County cricket is far more international than the IPL is.
I watched two 2020 games last night and 18 out of the 44 players were from overseas. They were just the ones I knew, I couldn’t be bothered doing research. 7 South Africans. 5 Australians. 2 Pakistanis. 2 Irish. 1 Scot. 1 West Indian. 18 out of 44 isn’t even that many; in quite a few teams the overseas born players out number the local boys. Kent had 7 players in their line up that weren’t English, including Ryan McLaren who they refused to let play for his country last year.
People are split over the amount of non-English players in Domestic cricket here. Some feel it gives young English players no chance to get into their sides. When I interviewed Dirk Nannes he said it strengthened the teams and without them county cricket would be not much better than Australian club cricket.
What is almost never mentioned is that not only is English domestic cricket more International than the IPL, but players often turn their backs on their countries to play in it. Almost as many average cricketers have turned their back on their countries as did for the ICL, and for less money.
The more countries that are allowed into the EU, the more players fly over and try their luck. Who knows how long this will go on, but there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
It does mean you can make a drinking game out of the Sky Interviews after a Pro40 game. 1 finger for a Pom. 2 fingers for a Saffa. 3 for an Aussie. And down your glasses for anyone from a non-test playing nation.
