17 January, 2015. 15:30
JACO VAN DER MERWE | Cricket | Contact
The ICC has confirmed that England is under investigation and could risk disqualification from the upcoming World Cup after a dramatic change in the international qualification laws.
The Betoota Advocate can exclusively report that the ICC are “sick and tired” of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) constantly “exploiting the rules” by qualifying players that aren’t traditionally “English”.
The revelation comes in wake of former English captain, Alastair Cook being left out from the 15 man English squad, only to be replaced by the Irishman, Eion Morgan.
“Morgan is about as English as I am!” said Sri Lankan ICC board member, Jayantha Dharmadasa who noted he has been to England once.
“I think the board with myself included has just about had enough of England assuming they have the right to select players who become ‘English’ after half a season of county cricket. It is just getting beyond a joke.”
Law 3.3 under player eligibility currently states that a player become eligible if “the Player is a Resident of the relevant country. In other words: the Player has resided in the relevant country for a minimum of 183 days in each of the immediately preceding seven years (male Players only).”
“What the old law states is that if I decided to have a holiday down in Devon once every two years for a couple of months – and my grandfather was from there – then I could play for England” said close personal friend and South African ICC Board Member, Chris Nenzani.
“I first had an issue with this all the way back in the early 90’s when Graeme Hick (Zimbabwe), Lamb Smith, Robin Smith (South Africa), Derek Pringle (Kenya), Chris Lewis, Phil DeFreitas (West Indies) and Dermot Reeve (Hong Kong) all lined up for England” he continued on to say.
“It wasn’t so much of a problem back then because the English were notoriously sh*t – but when they blatantly stole Strauss, Prior, Pietersen and Trott from my homeland – I knew that enough was enough.”
The new law states that the Player must be a Resident of the relevant country, in other words: the Player has resided in the relevant country since the age of 6 years and 6 months without more than 12 months out of the country.
It is believed the final straw for the ICC came when Gary Ballance (Zimbabwe) edged out Ben Stokes (New Zealand) as being the final man selected in the English 15-man World Cup squad.
“Zimbabwe and New Zealand aren’t even good at cricket – and the West Indies aren’t much better!” Said Dharmadasa, in reference to “English” fast bowler Chris Jordan, who was born in Barbados.
“Not only does it undermine the development young talent in England, but it also reflects badly on the game”
In other selection related drama, The Betoota Advocate can reveal that many English youngsters are traveling to India, Pakistan and South Africa – in a bid to get picked in their own national team.
Lancashire father of three, Harry Pendlebury took his kids to the sub-continent and put them into well-known cricketing schools to help their careers.
“They just have more opportunity to be noticed by the English selectors in India or Pakistan – as a lot of the current English players have cousins and uncles that serve as talent scouts there.”
It is thought that England were warned about the change in the rules but decided to not heed the warnings as “there wasn’t actually any real talent in England”.
Australia is suspected to have left Steve O’Keefe (Malaysia), Moises Henrique (Portugal) and Usman Khawaja (Pakistan) out of the squad, although they would have qualified to play under the new laws.
It is also believed South Africa has Robin Peterson on stand-by in case Imran Tahir (Pakistan) does not qualify to play.
England is believed to have a week to either challenge the decision, change their team or risk being disqualified from the World Cup.
After a promising junior career as a fiery left arm quick in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, JACO VAN DER MERWE was given the opportunity to move to the Western Cape at just 15 – It was here where he would enter a strong South African development squad. Tragically, an all too familiar carjacking attempt on his family saw his father accidentally misfire his high-powered pistol, leaving Jaco with a gunshot wound to his left shoulder – He was unable to bowl pace ever again. However, Van Der Merwe’s passion for cricket did not stop there as he began writing and quickly became the junior sports editor for the IOL independent. Jaco now writes and resides in Betoota with his wife Marcel and their two sons Rillie and Pieter.
I know! bloody reminds Symonds and Vessels playing for Australia, two wrongs don’t make a right. Jesus said it “he who has not sinned may throw the first stone”
Symonds was 3 months old when he left…..
Also, I’m pretty sure he turned England down because they were shit. And then had to wait nearly 10 years to make the oz side.
Nice attempt though
Al..you managed to name 2…Symonds is about as English as Ian Chappell…and Wessels had no other option. He played for his own country when they were re-admitted. When was the last time England had an English team. The last time Australia had one was the last game they played. At least when we go to the cricket we can cheer for players from our own county. English cricket has been embarrassing for the last 30 years..
I totally agree with u rob….as a pom living in oz for 15 years now married to an aussie I think the English cricket system needs to get out into the suburbs of the massive city’s and promote the game to play young kids and hopfully recruit them to play for England…..@ the moment it’s mainly for private schools that play cricket & the youngsters are only interested in football.. dont forget England alone has a population of 60 million plus ….thanx steve
players leave South Africa because of the quota system. They are not stollen. Change the selectin criteria to if you are good enough to make the side you will. Good luck to those who do leave our shores and get to play at the highest level in another country
Biggest difference with wessles was …he had no country to play for…..
South African cricket bosses and their friends should not comment, because they are the direct cause that SA players move overseas. The race based selection process in cricket and rugby force players to move out of their homeland to earn a living.
“Blatantly stole” haha get your facts right mate. Strauss, Pieterson, Trott and Kieswetter have all come out saying that either them or their family’s decided to move to England because they couldn’t see themselves breaking in to the South African team with the certain politics and quota systems associated with South Africa cricket. It was their decision and has nothing to do with England “stealing” players. Poor journalism.
Completely ridiculous argument. Matt Prior for example was South African born but went to school at Brighton College and played for Sussex from the age of 14 upwards, Andrew Strauss is another example, he went to school in Middlesex since he was at least 16 and played for Middlesex all his career. Eoin Morgan has the option to play for either Ireland or England. Why are people such as Luke Ronchi formerly of Australia and now at New Zealand not being questioned… They’ve played for two major nations surely thats more of an issue here. Stop complaining about the minor issues and deal with the major ones such as the BCCI having complete dominancy in the ICC board, such as choosing not to use DRS which everyone else is. Pathetic article. No englishman would complain about Khawaja playing for Australia or Nash playing for West Indies, just sour old men with nothing better to do than complain.
Ronchi was born in new zealand you Muppet
Sensationalist journalism at its best here.
Bit quiet on the news front is it boys.
Pretty much EVERY country has had players represent it that weren’t born there.
Do your due diligence and stop being selective with what you print.
BUFFOONS
They chose who to represent, they weren’t stolen. Buffoon is a great word.
In a world where more and more people are moving around internationally we should be getting used to grey areas in nationalities. I am half Greek, half English, my wife is Italian and I live in Asia. Who would my kids represent?