IMPACT OF INTERNATIONALS - CRICKET FEATURE

Profiles / Editor / 23 May 2007 / Leave a Comment

International cricket continues to have a profound effect on the domestic game with a number of leading counties already having seen their hopes of success this season hit by absentees and unavailability of some of their key players.

The ever-expanding ICC Future Tours schedule has caused a lot of English teams to change the way they think about overseas players now, and they often sort out their signings around breaks in tours - for example the number of Australian players in England has increased this season because there is no danger of any of them being called away with their country not playing at all from the end of the World Cup until September.

Others have decided not to take their full allowance of two overseas players, while some have gone to the other extreme and signed a number of foreigners under the Kolpak ruling, which allows players from South Africa and the Caribbean to sign as European Union citizens if they are willing to give up their international career, either permanently or, as with Yorkshire's Jacques Rudolph, for a pre-specified length of time.

It is noticeable that the teams at the top of the County Championship table are those who have played the overseas market most actively, and who have not yet been overly affected by England call-ups.

Leaders Yorkshire, as mentioned, have used the rules in place to add three leading international players to their squad in Rudolph, Jason Gillespie and Younis Khan.

Gillespie's international days appear to be past him now, but he is still very effective in English conditions, and Khan, who will be available for most of the summer, has already scored 378 championship runs at an average of 75.60, just a little more than Rudolph, with both impressing in the one-day game as well.

This week's clash with Durham will provide them with their first real bowling test without the services of Matthew Hoggard, but either Steve Patterson or fit-again Deon Kruis should be able to help them through as part of an attack that still goes down as one of the best in the country even in Hoggard's absence.

Warwickshire are in a similar boat as regards losing an influential player to England - Ian Bell - but they too have taken measures to compensate by signing Kumar Sangakkara, who appears set to play as a specialist batsman this season and could even improve their chances of success. Tim Ambrose's fine start to the season as a wicketkeeper-batsman of course helps, with an average of 108.25 from the first five games of the season.

At the other end of the spectrum, Worcestershire have struggled in Division One with a side that lacks players of international quality. Former internationals Vikram Solanki and Kabir Ali have been available to them, but only Ali has had any success, while the signing of Doug Bollinger to boost their attack has proved a dud because of injury.

The team to really keep an eye on in the coming weeks is Durham, who have moved into third in the County Championship, but now face a real test of their depth.

They will be without Steve Harmison, Paul Collingwood and Liam Plunkett for most of the summer while they are away with England, and with Graham Onions knocking on the door of international recognition as well, unheralded back-up bowlers Neil Killeen and Mark Davies are going to have to shine if they are to remain in contention for the title.

Similar comments apply to Lancashire, who lose Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson to the squad for the second Test, and Anderson's absence could be extended if Matthew Hoggard's injury keeps him out for a while.

But on paper they appear to have far more depth than Durham, with youngsters like Oliver Newby, Tom Smith and Kyle Hogg all having built up enough experience in recent seasons to be able to make a decent impact for them - Dominic Cork of the more experienced players will have to step up to fill Flintoff's sizeable boots.

In Division Two, Nottinghamshire have performed very well at the start of the season despite the continuing absence of their main overseas star, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming. Fleming returns to action this week after he got married at the end of their World Cup campaign in the Caribbean.

Leicestershire have not fared quite as well in losing three of their five championship games so far, but they will have been boosted by the wickets taken by RP Singh during India's series with Bangladesh - his arrival in England will provide them with a big boost over the second-half of the season, when they should be one of the improvers.

And finally, poor Glamorgan lie at the bottom of the table and have taken only one point in the Friends Provident Trophy this season, but they will finally be able to put their best available side on the field this week when Australian opener Jimmy Maher finally makes his debut along with all-rounder Damien Wright, recently signed as a second overseas player.