Will the ICC please re-consider it's current rulebook?

If a player is selected for the England Cricket team, something tells me they should have traces of English blood coursing through them. Craig Kieswetter is certainly not one of those. The three lion’s latest import has impressed whilst opening the batting in England’s tour to Bangladesh following Captain Andrew Strauss’s decision to rest up ahead of a hectic 2010, but the explosive wicket-keeper batsman, born in South Africa to parents of Afrikaner and Scottish descent respectively surely shouldn’t be able to qualify for the English national side. It’s fast becoming a joke. With all due respect to Kieswetter, it was no monkey on his back that he was chosen for the tour; however he only qualified for England two weeks prior to his debut and has represented South Africa at youth level. There needs to be some toughened regulations ruling over whether a player can represent the country in question.

Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss and Jonathon Trott were all South African born and they incumbently make up the bulk of the English batting line-up, but Kieswetters inclusion despite his promising talent at the tender age of 22 was a step taken too far by the ECB and the ICC need to iron out a rulebook stopping players cross tripping nations, especially if they have no next of kin family member connected with the country they find themselves plying their trade for. It can be said, his mother is Scottish and obviously British, but at the end of the day there isn’t a ‘British Cricket Team’ and the line has to drawn somewhere.



Two of England's leading lights in the ODI series against Bangladesh, but does there need to be stricter regulations on players turning out for countries their respective family histories don’t really relate too?

For the time being though, Kieswetter has grabbed his opportunity in the ECB’s makeshift touring squad and few can have any qualms about the nature in which he powered to his first three figures in international cricket securing a one-day series win for the tourists.

The first part of the potential banana skin trip to the sub continent has been handled with ease by an England team led by stand-in captain Alastair Cook. Bangladesh hardly provided the sternest of tests, but it is that same old chestnut, you can only beat what’s in front of you. Irrespective of the opposition, England’s Irish born batsman Eoin Morgan now seems an automatic shoe in slotting into the batting compartment with ease. His unbeaten century in the second ODI gave everyone a timely reminder of his undisputable technical ability. A cool, non pressurised head integrated into the heart of the England batting segment can only be a good thing for the future. Does this description sound familiar? Well, Mr Pietersen, in the series contributed three low scores and he does appear horribly out of nick, but the bottom line is he is England’s most talented player and he is too good not to return to the form that made his name. People tend to overlook the toughness and mental attribution it takes to battle back from a long term injury, and a career threatening Achilles problem at that. The Hampshire star was very much thrust back into the thick of the action in the Christmas tour of his native South Africa and I believe he should be given a bit more time to find his feet again in the Bangladesh Tests, before critics and analysts alike dig into the undergrowth of Pietersen’s mind.

The next challenge that awaits for England is to wrack up a two-nil Test series win. It should not be seen as slim pickings by the tourists nevertheless because as we saw in Tamim Iqbal’s prevalent batting in the series, there is some ability in the Bangladeshi team; but for them it’s more a case of replicating this form consistently in the unforgiving waters of international cricket. England have some injury doubts for the opening test, beginning on Friday ,with Graham Onions and Stuart Broad potentially sidelined alongside the already injured Ryan Sidebottom. The touring selectors nonetheless will gain the chance to look at debutants like batsman Michael Carberry, who I’m sure will be relishing the occasion to prove himself on the international platform.

A final point is what specifications do the English hierarchy judge Alastair’s Cooks performance as captain on? I would think a Test Series win. But more importantly Cook’s future leadership credentials need to be put under the microscope, if the opener is going to become the future England captain, many think he will become. Time will only tell.