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england qualification
Changing nations
By Jonathan Liew 2 years ago, at the end of January, 10 Comments »
According to Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph, England’s best hope of winning the Ashes in 2009 is to play two spinners and prepare some turning pitches.
It’s a seductive idea, but who on earth do you have as the second spinner? Graeme Swann? Adil Rashid? Gary whatsisface from Lancashire? Or England’s very own Greg Rusedski?
I was at Lord’s in about 1998 when Saqlain Mushtaq took a hat-trick against Middlesex. He’s top drawer, and certainly turns the ball more than Gareth Batty. But somehow the thought of Saqlain in an England shirt seems wrong – a little like seeing your mum in a catsuit. Of course, he’s legally resident and pays taxes and all that. And these days, the country of your birth can be shaken off like an itchy cardigan, and frequently has been. But the difference with the likes of Hussain, Pietersen and Shah is that they never stepped out to play a World Cup final for their home country. Saqlain is, to everybody but the ECB and the Home Office, a Pakistan player. Whatever he does in an England shirt won’t change that.
I’d be interested to hear the thoughts of any Australians reading about Kepler Wessels, a similar case, who’s a little bit before my time. Was he welcomed into the fold as a class player, or did his appearance in a baggy green smack of opportunism?
10 Comments »