Overseas players in Test teams

[aussie_beater]

Interesting concept from Rodney Hogg... says Test cricket teams which are in th ebottom wrung like Bangladesh should be given the opportunity to hire overseas players who are good but don't get a chance to play test cricket for their own country.....hmmm.... methinks Hogg is stretching it too far.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/3012854.stm

 

[luckyeddie]

Methinks Rodney's short of a bob or two and fancies a game for Bangladesh.

 

[Langeveldt]

Methinks someone has severely lost the plot

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Mefinks that this must be some kind of joke.

 

[Kiwi]

Methinks that Tendulkar and Lara could come and play for NEw Zealand

 

[Langeveldt]

Methinks Shane Bond should come to England to replace Harmison... and Murali should go to SA so they have a decent spinner...

 

[luckyeddie]

Methinks Shane Bond should come to England to replace Harmison... and Murali should go to SA so they have a decent spinner...

Poor Adams.

I mean Poor - Adams.

 

[royGilchrist]

I always thought this was a good idea, hopefully its feasible logistically. Just like it happens in american sports or professional soccer.

I think it will add a lot of excitement, and there might be a lot more parity. The problem will be that eventually, the rich nations will end up being the best, I am not sure how they will control this though. Maybe only the weaker nations can get foreign players, but what ranking determines who is the weaker cricketing nation.

 

[Kiwi]

The rich countries would end up with the 'best in the world XI' and countries like Bangladesh would only get worse.

 

[masterblaster]

agreed,

its the most insane statement ever made by a person who is involved in the game.

Utterly mindbogglingly insane

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I hate the idea on the grounds that, as in all international sport, there should be some kind of loyalty to your country.

 

[marc71178]

Hmm, does he have a book about to come out by any chance?

 

[aussie_beater]

I hate the idea on the grounds that, as in all international sport, there should be some kind of loyalty to your country.

That's the exact reason why I hate this idea. International sports need to have national boundaries and loyalties....that's what makes it more exciting and combative....its not club level sports we are talking about.

 

[Gotchya]

Over the years, test teams have taken such a long time to develop. How can one *accelarate* the development of current minnows? I dont think that this idea is that feasible, It wont look pretty.

 

[Neil Pickup]

To paraphrase Comic Book Guy:

Worst Idea Ever.

 

[Langeveldt]

I can just imagine the first test of the summer in the next decade...

England captained by Henry Olonga take on the West Indies captained by Stephen fleming at the Millenium Dome......

 

[Gotchya]

Interesting concept from Rodney Hogg... says Test cricket teams which are in the bottom wrung like Bangladesh should be given the opportunity to hire overseas players who are good but don't get a chance to play test cricket for their own country

I can just imagine the first test of the summer in the next decade...

England captained by Henry Olonga take on the West Indies captained by Stephen fleming at the Millenium Dome......

So...you planning a civil war here?

 

[royGilchrist]

That's the exact reason why I hate this idea. International sports need to have national boundaries and loyalties....that's what makes it more exciting and combative....its not club level sports we are talking about.

Is it better to watch eleven loyal austrailians beat the crap out of eleven loyal bangladeshis, or is it better to watch a tight match between Austrailia and Bangladesh with Bangladesh compromosing of non-bangladeshi players (perhaps even Aussie discards).

I think if its done in an intelligent way, it could improve the cricket quality and bring much needed parity among the playing nations.

When I first started watching professional sports, I could not come to terms with this idea of players from a different city or even a different country. But after awhle I realized that one roots for the team (belonging to a city or country), and has nothing to do with the individual players.

Players from other nationalities have represented cricket teams like England or South Africa, I am sure Australian supporters were not having a difficult time supporting Kepler Wessels when he played for the Aus team, even though he was not originally austrailian, because they would simply support whoever played for austrailia.

With all the negative publicity cricket has received over the years I think this kind of a thing will add some much needed excitement into cricket.

 

[aussie_beater]

Is it better to watch eleven loyal austrailians beat the crap out of eleven loyal bangladeshis, or is it better to watch a tight match between Austrailia and Bangladesh with Bangladesh compromosing of non-bangladeshi players (perhaps even Aussie discards).

Such horrible mismatches aside, the "Hogg plan" sort of thing is unheard of in international sports. Just because Bangladesh are no good now, doesn't mean that they would remain like that for ever....yes they should not be playing test cricket in the first place....but that's a whole other discussion.

Can you imagine Beckham turning up for Argentina or Ronaldo playing for Italy in soccer ? Test cricket is an international sport, and I for one would absolutely lose interest in a sport which is played among international teams with hired guns from abroad. For that I would watch club teams fight it out, just like it happens in soccer but when I am watching an international game, I want national pride and honour adding spice to the contest....that's what makes Ashes or India-Pak contests to be what they are....

 

[royGilchrist]

Unfortunately India/Pakistan dont even play anymore

On a serious note, its difficult to compare soccer and cricket. cricket is played betwen few nations while in soccer there are so many nations, that its rare that one is much better than the rest. The nature of the game itself in soccer allows parity in results, unlike cricket where a good team will almost always beat a bad team.

And lastly, games between nations are not the sole attraction. Infact its quite a rare occurence, national teams playing against each other only for WC, EC, or copa america tpe of competitions, which dont even happen every year. The bulk of soccer watched and followed by fans is between clubs anyways.