C'mon England Lets Win ( great series )

[Divine Wright]

So who won then ?

[the other bob wilson]

No doubt someone will correct if I'm wrong here, but there hasn't been one Welsh cricketer ever who has turned down the opportunity of playing for England's senior team as a matter of principle along the lines argued by some in this thread.

What would their attitude be if a Welsh son/daughter or grandson/granddaughter, of theirs who was not qualified to play for any other country and were clearly good enough to play senior level international cricket, was selected in an England squad? Would they try to talk them out of accepting the invite to play, would they disown them, would they ban them from doing so?

The fact of the matter is that for a Welsh cricketer not qualified to play for anyone else, there is only one way they can play top level international cricket and that is by playing for team known as England.

It's far from an ideal situation, but it's the one that's been around for more than a hundred years and, although I'd be looking to try and force some changes to current rituals (e.g. the playing Jerusalem before the start of every day's play in home tests) if I was good enough for the selectors to want me to play for them, I would definitely do so because what is the alternative if I said no - a career like someone like Barry Richards who only played four tests despite being rated as one of the truly great batsmen of the last fifty years.

That's the thing, what is the alternative to the current system that offers a better future for Welsh cricket and Glamorgan county cricket club? In fact, forget a better future, what alternative would secure the future of the game in this country? A test team for Wales perhaps, but, unless there could also be an improvement in playing standards to go with such an event, we'd be a laughing stock on the international stage and it could definitely be argued that this would do the game in Wales more harm than good.