Wales to go alone

ttp://www.cricketeurope4.net/DATABASE/ARTICLES5/articles/000001/000166.shtml


intresting, but do they have the class to get anywhere....intrested in people's thoughts on this.

To cut a long story short (the test is about to start after all, and nobody really wants to read another rant by Mike Selig about the dominance of the few in World Cricket governance), it is highly unlikely to happen anytime soon. Wales cricket is effectively run by Glamorgan who are effectively run by the ECB. Whether this is in the best interests for overall cricket in Wales (or indeed in the world) I leave to you to decide, but discussions about a possible Wales only team are purely hypothetical for now.

i dont think it will happen, because if glamorgan cricketer arent avaliable then, its hard to see where quality players will come from..

No reason why Glamorgan players couldn't be available (as Irish/Dutch players mostly get released by their counties, so feasibly could welsh players, although I understand the difficulties if 80% of your players have to get released - perhaps it is a case of working the European calendar around the English one). The problem more is that Glamorgan and welsh cricket get a huge chunk of funding from the ECB which in the short term would go away.

Personally I'm not that bothered: welsh cricketers (unlike many others) have the opportunity to play at the highest level they can, and the infrastructures in Wales are fine. From a world cricket development perspective I don't think it matters too much whether or not they get their own team.

im not overly bothered if they play international cricket, however i noticed the article and thought i would bring it up.

I reckon they'd give the associates a good game! They'd have some decent players there though some of them may try to qualify for England.

Pretty sure Wales do have a team, they just play small countries

yh but hodge i highly doubt they would be competiive....

unless they just used glamorgan players which i dont see happening.

hodge wrote:Pretty sure Wales do have a team, they just play small countries

Nope they don't. They're not even a member of the ICC (apart from as part of England). They have played the odd friendly over the years (against England mainly) but don't compete in any official capacity.

If they ever did take the leap and were allowed access to all their best players I've no doubt they'd be up there challenging the Netherlands and Namibia fairly soon...

Gareth Rees
Geraint Jones
Mike Powell
Tom Maynard
Michael O'Shea
?
Tom Wallace
Robert Croft
Will Owen
James Harris
Simon Jones (even if he's only on one leg)

Rees- good player
Jones-played too much for england
Powell-
Maynard-class player
o'shea-
Jamie Dalrymple at 6 perahps?
isnt it Mark wallace not tom wallace?
Croft-retired by then
Owen-crap
Harris-class
Jones-played too much for england

The Jones's could do an Ed Joyce. Of course I mean Mark Wallace Powell, O'Shea and Owen would work fine against an associate team. We aren't talking a test side here.

yh but GG the two jones's played a hell of a lot for england, joyce didnt.

Doesn't make any difference. they can play for any nation for which they qualify 4 years after playing for England, regardless of how many times. Of course, any players going in the reverse direction (associate to full member) doesn't need to wait 4 years. Which is obviously completely fair and above board.

ah yes mike my mistake...

however geriant jones is 36 i think so he wouldnt play for them, and simon jones can hardly move most of the time.

True true. I think Wales would be a good associate side. I doubt they'd beat the best like Ireland, Afghanistan, UAE or even Scotland, but they'd give them a run for their money.

they could do what netherlands and scotland usually do, take part as the 'make up' side in the CB40 perhaps.....

A bit unfair on the Netherlands who won 5 matches last year and tied another.

Anyway the point is entirely hypothetical, as things stand those who matter in Cricket Wales don't want them to split from the ECB, so that's that. Besides, if they tried to compete in the CB40 without their Glamorgan contracted players they'd be roundly beaten by all.

werent scotland in it last year though as well?

they could replace them who done awful.

Wales without Glamorgan would get roundly smashed by Scotland. Frankly they'd lose to both Denmark and Italy, and struggle against the likes of Jersey. Their system is currently based entirely on a top-down functioning as a feeder for Glamorgan.

Without the Glamorgan players I might get in

i highly doubt anything will come from this, like i say, i saw the article and thought it would be good to bring it up, and see what people think.

Well, the feeling I get is that views in Wales are pretty mixed: some say that without the ECB funding and the top-down approach the game will go backwards and the grass-roots will struggle. Others say that the top-down approach is currently stifling the game, and being affiliated to England puts a lot of potential players off; in the long term it would be better for Wales to build on their own from the bottom up.

I don't really know enough about the situation to tell you which view is correct. What I do know is that even at grass roots, players in Wales have access to facilities and dreams most other cricket countries would die for, so from a development perspective I'm not too fussed.

From a moral democratic perspective I am of course horrified that all the power in Wales cricket is given to Glamorgan, but democracy and the ICC don't really mix do they (indeed neither do morals and the ICC)?

This is an interesting idea, but not one I can see happening for a long time. Wales as far as I'm aware does not have the competative structure in place (other then at Glammy) for us to be developing enough players to be even a little bit competative.

Set up a more competative league amongst clubs within Wales and then at least we'd have a better starting point to go from.

Tis a nice idea, but not one I can see ever really happening.

i completely agree with ya dreamer...its nice they have ambition, but its more hope than anything else.

The thing is, if Wales/Ireland/Scotland all 'went alone' and made an effort to be independent ODI and Test sides they would eventually get to a reasonable level, but it would take time. Ireland in particular have some decent players but as soon as anyone is a class above they get poached to play for England because that's the only way to play Test cricket (Morgan/Joyce). I guess what I'm saying is it's a bit of a vicious cycle but I would personally love to see Wales and the others develop into fully independent cricketing nations.

Carrotdude wrote:The thing is, if Wales/Ireland/Scotland all 'went alone' and made an effort to be independent ODI and Test sides they would eventually get to a reasonable level, but it would take time. Ireland in particular have some decent players but as soon as anyone is a class above they get poached to play for England because that's the only way to play Test cricket (Morgan/Joyce). I guess what I'm saying is it's a bit of a vicious cycle but I would personally love to see Wales and the others develop into fully independent cricketing nations.

good to see ya back carrotdude