With Monty Panesar (unsuccessfully) trying to be allowed to play for an injury/internationls hit NSW in a shield game, it got me thinking again about allowing international players playing domestic cricket in Australia again. I am leaning towards wanting it to happen, and believe it could have the effect of raising the standards of both domestic and international cricket.
The obvious case against is that it might hinder the development of some future international cricketers by blocking their path into the Shield team. But I believe that currently in Australian domestic cricket it is probably too easy. States with a lot of Australian contracted players like NSW have their bowling (and sometimes batting/keeping) lineups ravaged each summer and it results in: young players who aren't ready to play, mediocre players who have been around a while, a long time grade cricket performer making the side. This can sometimes be a good thing, but quite often it is not. There are guys like Pat Cummings who can play at high levels at an incredibly young age, but they are incredibly rare and the jury is still out as to whether he can continue being so effective. So yes, it could potentially hinder some cricketers (some mature age) from developing, but I think it could have a big impact on the cricketers the internationals play with. Ricky Ponting noted how many people had come to tell him how big an impact he was having on the group, as everyone was extremely keen to impress the Australian captain and hence training became a hell of a lot more productive and the benefits were shown in the matches he played. Younis Khan had a similar effect on a young Callum Ferguson a couple of years back too.
Obviously not every overseas player could be as good/respected as Ponting and Khan, but it wouldn't take too much research to find out whether a player will be a good influence on the group. It's been noted that because of the obsession of youth that state cricket has gone through over the last couple of years, teams have been devoid of leaders who can show these younger guys who to train, prepare, play and live the life of a professional cricketer. I would like to see more Australian domestic cricketers who are keen to play for Australia chase county contracts (or any other countries domestic system) because it can really round off your game. Using England as an example, guys like Strauss, Collingwood and Pietersen all came over, and whilst they obviously didn't play state cricket their games benefited from playing in a competitive environment in conditions that would have taken them out of their comfort zones and they went from strength to strength when they got the chance at international level.
I think a "player swapping" system would really benefit players from all over the world. A stint in county cricket could really benefit somebody like Callum Ferguson by improving not only his game, but his leadership qualities, and I'm not quite up to date with who are England's potential future batting stars are, but a young Ian Bell or Ravi Bopara, who clearly had a lot of talent, but got made mincemeat of in their younger days by the tough aggressive Australian fast bowlers, could be exposed to that at a younger age. Or what about sending a few of our state cricketers off to play in India? I don't know the standard of the Ranji Trophy, but they would no doubt come back with knowledge of how to bat/bowl/keep on subcontinental wickets and would have experienced the unusual Indian conditions whilst a couple of Indians come over here and ply their trade in just as foreign conditions for them. It could really improve the quality of players in nations which struggle to develop cricketers like Bangladesh or the West Indies. There still however, could be problems like there are in the state leagues in AFL where the AFL club more or less forces the state league club to play a player or to play them in a certain position.
It's hard to see it happening but if done fairly and equally I think it could help improve the quality of cricketers all over the world. It's not something the BCCI or CA is likely to look at in the age of fast money T20 unfortunately. The best we can hope for is an annual "A" tour and better scheduling so that players on international duty can still play regular domestic cricket.
Probably a massive tl;dr, but what are your thoughts?
The obvious case against is that it might hinder the development of some future international cricketers by blocking their path into the Shield team. But I believe that currently in Australian domestic cricket it is probably too easy. States with a lot of Australian contracted players like NSW have their bowling (and sometimes batting/keeping) lineups ravaged each summer and it results in: young players who aren't ready to play, mediocre players who have been around a while, a long time grade cricket performer making the side. This can sometimes be a good thing, but quite often it is not. There are guys like Pat Cummings who can play at high levels at an incredibly young age, but they are incredibly rare and the jury is still out as to whether he can continue being so effective. So yes, it could potentially hinder some cricketers (some mature age) from developing, but I think it could have a big impact on the cricketers the internationals play with. Ricky Ponting noted how many people had come to tell him how big an impact he was having on the group, as everyone was extremely keen to impress the Australian captain and hence training became a hell of a lot more productive and the benefits were shown in the matches he played. Younis Khan had a similar effect on a young Callum Ferguson a couple of years back too.
Obviously not every overseas player could be as good/respected as Ponting and Khan, but it wouldn't take too much research to find out whether a player will be a good influence on the group. It's been noted that because of the obsession of youth that state cricket has gone through over the last couple of years, teams have been devoid of leaders who can show these younger guys who to train, prepare, play and live the life of a professional cricketer. I would like to see more Australian domestic cricketers who are keen to play for Australia chase county contracts (or any other countries domestic system) because it can really round off your game. Using England as an example, guys like Strauss, Collingwood and Pietersen all came over, and whilst they obviously didn't play state cricket their games benefited from playing in a competitive environment in conditions that would have taken them out of their comfort zones and they went from strength to strength when they got the chance at international level.
I think a "player swapping" system would really benefit players from all over the world. A stint in county cricket could really benefit somebody like Callum Ferguson by improving not only his game, but his leadership qualities, and I'm not quite up to date with who are England's potential future batting stars are, but a young Ian Bell or Ravi Bopara, who clearly had a lot of talent, but got made mincemeat of in their younger days by the tough aggressive Australian fast bowlers, could be exposed to that at a younger age. Or what about sending a few of our state cricketers off to play in India? I don't know the standard of the Ranji Trophy, but they would no doubt come back with knowledge of how to bat/bowl/keep on subcontinental wickets and would have experienced the unusual Indian conditions whilst a couple of Indians come over here and ply their trade in just as foreign conditions for them. It could really improve the quality of players in nations which struggle to develop cricketers like Bangladesh or the West Indies. There still however, could be problems like there are in the state leagues in AFL where the AFL club more or less forces the state league club to play a player or to play them in a certain position.
It's hard to see it happening but if done fairly and equally I think it could help improve the quality of cricketers all over the world. It's not something the BCCI or CA is likely to look at in the age of fast money T20 unfortunately. The best we can hope for is an annual "A" tour and better scheduling so that players on international duty can still play regular domestic cricket.
Probably a massive tl;dr, but what are your thoughts?
