England extend qualification period
Overseas born players wishing to represent England now face an
extended qualification period of seven years, an increase on the
existing four year term, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)
announced Monday.
The new regulation is to apply to all male cricketers who begin
residence in England after their 18th birthday. For those living in
England before they are 18, the period of qualification will be four
years.
According to an ECB statement, the new qualification regulations will
be deemed to have been effective as of April 25 2012.
England have come under fire, both from within their own cricket
community and from abroad, particularly in Australia and South Africa,
for fielding several players in recent years who were born overseas but
qualified for their adopted nation under the four year-rule.
For example South Africa-born batsman Kevin Pietersen, whose mother
is English, played five seasons for county side Nottinghamshire before
making his England international debut in 2004.
The amendment cannot be applied retrospectively and allows for ECB
discretion to reduce the residence period to four years for prospective
players who either hail originally from a country which is a
non-International Cricket Council full member or who arrived in England
before April 25.
That caveat could, possibly, apply to Irish players aiming to follow
the same path as Dublin-born Middlesex and England batsman Eoin Morgan.
London, Tuesday
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