Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 21 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Andrew Hughes looks at how the likes of Steve Tikolo, Tatenda Taibu and Mohammed Ashraful have excelled for the so-called minnows and how the pressure of the team being so reliant on them has inevitably taken its toll.

For all the ICC's efforts, there remains a gulf between the top eight Test playing nations and the rest. Zimbabwean cricket is a shambles and the Bangladeshi game is in crisis, with neither showing any signs of improvement. Further down the cricket food chain, the likes of Kenya and Ireland are capable of occasional shocks but are a long way short of Test standard.

However, we should be wary of concluding that these are countries incapable of producing cricketers of international class. Their slow development has more to do with a lack of strength in depth (self-inflicted in Zimbabwe's case). There is no doubt that one or two players turning out for these minor countries would have a chance of thriving at a higher level. At least three of them are currently engaged in a hard-fought tri-nations series in Kenya.

Kenyan captain Steve Tikolo is universally recognised as the best batsman outside the big eight nations. The cornerstone of Kenya's efforts for a decade, his time playing club cricket in England and South Africa helped him hone his batting and a first class average of fifty-one is an impressive return. In a long international career, he has racked up twenty-two centuries and on Sunday his latest ton helped Kenya to a thumping win over Zimbabwe.

In that Zimbabwe team was diminutive wicket-keeper batsman Tatenda Taibu. One of the first black cricketers to represent his country, he came up the hard way, winning a cricket scholarship to the Churchill Boys High School and thought good enough to be taken on tour of the West Indies at the age of sixteen. The upheavals in Zimbabwean cricket brought about his rapid promotion to the youngest Test captain ever. But the poisonous state of the game in that country forced him into premature retirement and a flirtation with qualifying for South Africa before returning to the international fold last year. A fluent wicket-keeper, light on his feet in the old fashioned style, he cuts and pulls effectively and could bat at seven for any of the big eight.

Finally, Ireland's skipper, William Porterfield is another who would hold his own at a higher level. A dominant opener, he has led by example since assuming the captaincy from Trent Johnston, showing his potential when he hit two one day centuries in three days last year. If he can survive the rigours of captaincy, then he has the potential to thrive.

Of course, that is a big 'if'. Lesser cricket nations who uncover a genuine international talent invariably promote them to the captaincy sooner rather than later. It is an understandable temptation, but it doubles the burden for these players, adding leadership responsibilities to the weight of carrying their team with bat or ball.

A classic example is the case of the promising young Bangladeshi, Mohammed Ashraful. A genuinely exciting and audacious batsman, particularly in the shorter formats, he hit a breathtaking century on his Test debut at the age of just seventeen. But just like Taibu, Tikolo and Porterfield, he soon found himself promoted to captain. And with Bangladesh exposed to the harsh light of top class international competition on a regular basis, the inevitable poor results have sapped his confidence and taken a toll on his batting form. Forced to play in a perennially losing team, even talented players may begin to tread water and get dragged down to the level of the rest.

However, it is not hard to see why so many of Ashraful's young teammates chose to join the ICL and end their international careers. At a time when Indian based Twenty20 cricket is increasing the rewards on offer for the better players, young cricketers may well choose the money, the exposure and the chance of winning on a regular basis over loyalty to a losing national team. Yet these minor nations can ill afford to lose their best players. It is a problem the ICC needs to address if its aim of developing cricket outside the big eight is to be fulfilled.