A Separate Wales Team

Cricket has been a game given by Britain to most of the established teams. However one of the most conspicuous absence from International cricket has been a Wales Cricket Team. It is surprising because we see other members of United Kingdom like Ireland(N Ireland plays as part of Ireland) and Scotland also playing and having decent standards. It becomes even more surprising when we get to know that channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey have their own separate teams!!

When we look at other sports Wales has it's own separate team. The English Wales rivalry is well known in both Rugby Union and League. Wales also has it's separate team in other sports like Football, Hockey or Basketball.

So that brings us to a question what about Wales team? Well to start with Wales are represented in cricket. How, the England team we know that plays is actually not a England team but rather a England and Wales Team. Yes and the Board ECB is actually England and Wales Cricket Board with W surprisingly ommitted

It is not like Wales never had a team. Infact Wales team used to play against visiting teams like New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies during 20's & 30's. They infact have managed to defeat West Indies in the past. Wales also participated in the 1979 ICC trophy. They did very well in the group winning 2 matches, losing 1 and 1 match abandoned against the Sri Lanka, who narrowly piped them on Run Rate to qualify for the Semi Finals.

There always have been demand for a separate Wales team. The treatment given by ECB (With W missing) is not appreciated in Wales. Lately the demand for a Wales team are growing louder with the issue being raised in the Welsh Parliament. However can a Wales team actually be successful. There are many factors which suggest a affirmative answer.

To start with the domestic number of players in Wales is higher than both for that of Ireland and Scotland. Glamorgan the County team representing Wales has won the county championship 3 times while Ireland, Scotland, Denmark and Netherlands who have taken part in county could not even come close to such performances.

Wales also have got the infrastructure in form of the Swalec stadiums which is one of the 12 stadiums of England. Not only this a Wales team when last played had actually defeated England and Welsh Player like Simon Jones was instrumental in helping England win the Ashes.

With such good prospects I expect the Welsh team to actually do very well internationally and can easily challenge the likes of teams like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe,Ireland or Scotland. A Wales team can also open the door's for a Euro Cup in which England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands can take part.

However a separate Welsh team would not come without challenges. Firstly it puts the risk of losing funding as ECB would not be sharing rough 2 M$ of annual funding it gives to it's counties. Secondly the Swalec stadium would also lose as it will lose lucrative matches like Ashes, and England international matches (Like it is one of the 3 stadiums for Champions trophy). Thirdly it would mean Glamorgan moving out of county championship as it happened with Scotland after they left England Team. Finally Wales would have to form it's own domestic structure and like Ireland would have risk of it's players moving to England for better prospects

Glamorgan playing a County match. Can we see the county players wearing a national jersey soon?

As the move for a separate Wales team would be supported by Government some funding from Government is expected. Besides the regular ICC funding Wales would be easily available for TAPP funding. Some private funding is also expected and rivalry in the British Isles against Ireland and Scotland can definitely get some level of sponsorships

Finally to have a quality set up is a challenge faced by all the European teams like Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands is quite similar. Some teams to start with have formed a first class tournament. Ireland has already started a 3 team First Class tournament and so did Scotland with a 2 team tournament. Netherlands has been having a annual North V South matches. The key would be as it the case with Rugby, the 4 nations can come together and form a 10 Team first class tournament (3 Teams each From Wales and Ireland & 2 Teams each From Scotland and Netherlands). This can in provide a quality domestic cricket for teams and also source of income for the home boards.

In the circumstances going in Wales I expect Wales team would be formed soon. Hopefully it is formed before the 2015 World Cup so that it can be in the process to reach the 2019 World and gain ODI status for future. The team would face many challenges but I am sure would have been the case in other sports. Let's hope to see the rise of another good teams in cricket soon.

Celtic League: A way to expand cricket in Europe?

In recent years we have seen some news in European Cricket that can shape the future of cricket in the continent. First is the resurgence of Irish cricket and their dramatic chase against England in world cup. Along with that the game has made right noises in Netherlands where the performance in world cup has helped cricket to stop it's downfall, while the Scots have been doing really good. Though they failed to make it to the world cup, but then after that made to finals of Intercontinental cup, teams performing very well in matches against Neth, Ire and other ODI and the junior team making it to the World Cup the game surely is on a roll

Besides that there have been lots of talks in Welsh Parliament about a separate Welsh team under the Gambit of ECB which even though is a English and Wales team, but conveniently remove Wales. Who knows soon over time like the Scots who went independent may soon happen for Welsh too.

England winning Ashes back to back also is coming at a right time bringing attention for cricket across Europe.

Celtic League is the place Cricket Should look upto

However the most encouraging news has been initial talks between Scotland and Irish cricket boards over the formation of a Celtic League. This idea is not a new one. We have recently seen a very successful East African Trophy and Premier League involving 4 teams from Kenya and 2 from Uganda. The tournament which started without sponsors or broadcaster before the end of tournament had both. The rebellious players who on seeing the success of the tournament apologized and are planning to come back. But where did the idea of Celtic League or East African tournament come? Both the Celtic League and East African tournaments came from a game that cricket should learn a lot of things from- Rugby

The Celtic league is already a very successful tournament that involves teams from Ireland, Scotland, Wales & Italy. This tournament which started in 2001 has picked up popularity over time and become the only first class tournament of these nations. It has also helped to have the first professional teams in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There have been some downsides where some professional clubs could not balance the sheets and hence were dissolved. The mistakes of the tournament can studied and ensured that they are not repeated

Cricket should definitely pick this brilliant experience and go for a similar league not just for Ireland and Scotland but even go further and have more nations as a part of it. Presently England with its 18 counties is the only place where professional Cricket is possible in Europe. European laws make that easy for these team to allow their players in county cricket but that has its risk of losing players to England. As an alternative professional set up to come to levels of county cricket is not possible if Ireland or Scotland go alone or together but lies in the fact that Wales, Netherlands and Denmark are brought into the fold

Professional set up depends on 2 major factors:- 1. The Economy of the countries i.e GDP of the countries, 2. The level of Interest- Are people willing to come to watch the game. The number of teams from each country should be based on both these factors. The fact can be seen that in Celtic League(Rugby), with a economy of 226 B$ Ireland had 4 teams while Wales with a GDP of 73 B$ had 5 teams and what happened? Even though Rugby would be slightly more popular in Wales than Ireland but soon the clubs started failing as they could not find money to sustain.

Going by the present Populations, Interest Levels and GDP the best format would be 4 teams from Ireland , 3 teams from Scotland, 2 from Wales, 2 from Netherlands and 1 from Denmark. This set up would help provide a much bigger population and economical base to sustain the game both in quality and monetary terms.This will help provide an alternate to County with more opportunities for domestic players.

The 12 teams can be as follows
Ireland:- Similar structure as Rugby Union: Ulster (Belfast), Munster (Cork), Leinster (Dublin) & Connacht (Galway)
Scotland:- The recently started 3 team tournament is the perfect way to go ahead: North (Aberdeen), West (Glasgow / Ayr), East (Edinburg)
Wales:- Presently only 1 county takes part in County championships. To increase participation it should be increased to 2 teams:Cardiff & Swansea (Glamorgan)
Netherlands:- The recently started North vs South competition is a perfect platform to go Celtic: North (Amstelveen) & South(Rotterdam)
Denmark:- Cricket is a very lower interest level, hence the whole national team should take part to ensure a competitive tournament. The capital Copenhagen is a perfect place.

The tournament may not be initially having the resources to go completely professional so can start as semi professional. Also since most of the places have stadiums Home and Away would be the best format. Any further expansion is very much possible in Netherlands and Denmark if it helps raise the profile of game in the country. Finally like Rugby the tournament should be run by a company with stakes of all the boards and an independent director. If cricket goes professional in these countries then it can pave the way for Euro Cup and further raise the profile of game.

Lets  hope the first step of Celtic Cup containing 6 teams of Scotland and Ireland goes ahead becomes a success like East African tournaments. I surely will be watching this space