Why Doesn’t Wales Have a National Cricket Team?

...and the case for them having one.

Being somewhat Welsh (I spent the first nineteen years of my life, along with three in my mid-twenties, there), it has always been something of a lingering curiosity for me that Wales doesn’t have a national cricket team.  The standard reply one might hear when questioning this is that the ECB is technically the England and Wales Cricket Board, but this does little to explain why an individual national side couldn’t operate within this system, nor does it justify it to the kind of people who, after a beer or two, like to insist on making a series of (convincing) arguments that Neville Southall’s peak surpassed those of Lev Yashin, Peter Schmeichel and Gordon Banks.

Cricket has never been the biggest sport in Wales, nor it is likely to ever become it, but the growth of the sport is undoubtedly limited by the people not having a team to support, especially when it comes to attracting more casual fans. The Welsh have, after all, always been proud of their sporting successes. Six Nations victories are a national event, whilst the summer of 2016 is the stuff of legend to many. Any victory over the English, in any capacity, is celebrated with a vigour of the likes of which Llewellyn the Great would be proud. In any other sport, the Welsh supporting a team which has England written on their shirts is about as common as Green Party members voting Tory; in cricket however, there is only one politician on the each of the Green Party members’ ballots, and that politician is a Tory.

Most probably wouldn’t bother turning up.

Unsurprisingly, this is essentially the case for most of the population of Wales, although it does have a positive angle: that the potential for growth within Welsh cricket remains huge. An independent international side presents one means of fulfilling some of this, and would probably have an instant impact on engagement in areas where current levels of interest are low. Indeed, the lack of a national team has been mentioned in discussions about cricket as a reason for individual lack of engagement with cricket by friends and colleagues in Wales more often than I would be able to mention.

With Scotland and Ireland each having developed sides capable of competing on the global stage, an improvement which some have claimed is as a direct result of their separation from the ECB, the question of why this is couldn’t be the case with Wales is now a very valid one to ask. When Scotland beat England at The Grange a few years ago, I was inundated with messages from friends I’d made whilst living in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, very few of whom had any interest in cricket prior. One of them stands out to me as having commented to me years earlier that ‘cricket is balls’, but now sends me frequent messages about the Scottish side, fully aware of the merits of Michael Leask, Matty Cross and George Munsey. I can only imagine he is one of many Scots inspired to follow the sport after that game, with Kevin O’Brien’s 100 in that World Cup win over England in 2011 having had much the same effect in Ireland years before. For many in Wales, the opportunity to replicate such feats have never existed; how many of those young kids, running around in their red Bale 11 shirts, have missed the opportunity to be inspired as a result? Most of the crop of pre-existing followers of cricket in Wales wouldn’t be able to name the only current Welsh international cricketer.*

Glamorgan have raised certain, quite reasonable, objections to the concept, which I will come to discuss soon, but their attempts to  market themselves as a kind of de-facto national side, occasionally playing games in Abergavenney (Monmouthshire) and Colwyn Bay (Conway), have always been fairly uninspiring, and, at times, somewhat reminiscent of the approach taken by Malaysian businessman Dato Chan Tien Ghee during his ownership of Cardiff City FC. Their ability to sign players of any nationality undermines the notion entirely, although I do accept their argument that this allows them to build a squad which is stronger than any Welsh national side would be. And yet, however arbitrary this suggests the jump in quality between ‘international’ and ‘domestic’ cricket to be, the standard of cricket played is ultimately irrelevant against the more ethereal, emotional, side of the argument.

Glamorgan is not Wales. If you live in Gwynedd, Ceredigion or North Powys, you probably identify very little with the county of Glamorgan, and you’re probably not a Swansea City FC or Llanelli Scarletts fan. You almost certainly do, however, identify with the nation of Wales, and almost certainly support, to some degree, the Welsh football and rugby teams. This form of (mostly good-natured) nationalism adds an element to international sport that simply can’t exist in a domestic format, and this extends to the attitudes of the players. Almost all international athletes speak of representing their country as very being near the top, and usually top outright, of their career achievements; I would suggest those individuals in Scotland’s squad probably felt worse after their loss to Zimbabwe last week than they feel when they are knocked out of the T20 Blast playing for their counties (where applicable).

Why are Welsh cricketers denied the opportunity to experience international sport when both their counterparts in football, rugby, hockey, lacrosse, mountain biking, athletics, table tennis, badminton, etc. etc. etc. are not, and cricketers from nations like Scotland, Ireland, Bermuda, Estonia, Turkey, Iceland, etc. etc. etc. are not? Even Jersey and Guernsey have international sides, ranking 22nd and 38th in the Men’s ICC T20I Rankings respectively; a nation with the the number of registered cricketers as Wales has would surely produce a better side than those put out by the Channel Islands? Based on the provisional squad I have put together for this article, I would suggest they would be more than capable of competing against the sides currently ranked 14th - 20th, and thus would be outside contenders for qualification for the ODI and T20I World Cups. They would almost certainly be able to bypass the affiliate stage of membership too, just as Scotland and Ireland did, receiving the relative degree of funding from the ICC in turn.

The prospect of fielding a competitive side certainly helps those in favour of the side’s creation, although it is the sentimental, nationalistic, form of rhetoric most often espoused by the politicians and writers when arguing for this. As someone who head-butted a lampshade when Sam Vokes scored that header against Belgium in 2016, I personally find its crux broadly convincing. None-the-less, it is difficult not to appreciate the context specific issues which stand in the way, almost all of which revolve around Glamorgan, whose existence as a professional cricket club creates a complication which neither Scotland and Ireland, each of whom separated from the ECB in the 1990s, had to navigate.

Glamorgan are wary of such plans, to say the least, and have objected to them publicly on a number of occasions. When consulted for the Welsh Assembly’s 2013 report into the feasibility of a national team, CEO Alan Hamer wrote that ‘a Welsh international cricket team would lead to the demise of Glamorgan cricket’, citing fears that the ECB would withdraw Sophia Gardens’ hosting rights for future England games. His successor Hugh Morris has subsequently acknowledged the reasons behind calls for a Welsh side, but in 2018 described the plan as one which ‘financially does not make any sense whatsoever’, citing concerns that Glamorgan ‘would lose [their] stadium…would lose [their] players and trying to grow the game in Wales would make it even more challenging [sic]’. His belief is that their place in the County Championship, as well as their hosting of a Hundred franchise the Welsh Fire, would be also at risk, along with the ECB funding that comes with their being an affiliated board. The combination of these things, he argues, would lead to financial inviability, and would force them into administration.

It would be an undoubted tragedy if this were to happen, and if accurate is certainly something which justifies their efforts to prevent the national side. But is what they believe really correct?

Of the ten entities consulted for the report, it was only Glamorgan, Cricket Wales and Sport Wales who objected, with the latter two ostensibly doing so entirely as a result of pre-existing alignment with, and loyalty to, the former.

The other respondents are all, to varying degrees, supportive of the proposal, with many, like Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards and Welsh cricket writer Michael Blumberg, towing the sentimental line. Edwards notes the demand for a Welsh team, quoting a Wales Online poll in which ‘over 80% of participants supported the creation of a Welsh side’, whilst dismissing the idea that the England side is an England and Wales side, writing ‘it is an England team, exhibiting all the symbolism of England’. It is due to this that fellow contributor Blumberg describes a national side as an ‘imperative’, describing the barriers to it as ‘largely illusionary’ despite being ‘entrenched in the minds of several leading officials of Glamorgan CCC and Welsh Cricket Board.’ More recently, Plaid MP Bethan Sayed has argued that it is the players themselves who lose out out most in the current system, writing that ‘Rugby and football players get to grow up dreaming of playing for Wales. But for those who love cricket there is no Welsh team to dream of playing for or to support’. Her party would go on to include the establishment of a Welsh cricket team as a commitment in its 2016 manifesto. Former First Minister and Leader of the Welsh Labour Party Carwyn Jones lent public support for the idea in 2017, whilst, last year, Conservative AM Mohammad Asghar questioned the notion that the requisite framework does not exist in Wales by referring to the rise of the Afghan national team.

Very few debates within the Welsh Sennedd have ever received this level of universal, cross-party, support, although all agree that any move on this needs to be made to the satisfaction of Glamorgan cricket, with all of the concerns set out by Hugh Morris alleviated.

Returning to the 2013 petitions committee report, however, it seems clear to me that Glamorgan have somewhat overstated the precariousness of their existence in the hypothetical situation discussed. Professor Rod Lyall’s testimony presents discussions he had had directly with the ECB, during which David Collier assured him that ‘Glamorgan would continue playing in the English County Championship even in the instance of Wales becoming a member of ICC’. He also looks to the precedent of non-English sides playing in ECB competitions, such as Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands fielding teams in previous iterations of the men’s domestic one-day competition, as well as in the women’s County Championship. Arguing against the removal of Sophia Gardens as an England venue, he notes that the ICC have no regulations against international matches being played beyond the borders of the nations involved, as in the case of Pakistan playing games in the UAE. If Glamorgan retained ties with the ECB, as they would undoubtedly require, then it would be entirely possible for them to continue to bid for, and host, England games.

This is, however, reliant upon ECB co-operation, and there is no guarantee that they would be willing to engage in action which is, at its root, designed to promote the growth of the game in Wales, especially when this would become the responsibility of a newly ICC associated Cricket Wales. If Glamorgan were to lose their occasional England game, it would certainly cause a significant dent to their income, but if they were given assurances that their chances of being bestowed hosting duties would not be affected by such a move, alongside assurances that they would be able to retain their place in the County Championship, then the two most significant barriers would be removed and Hugh Morris’ arguments would cease to have weight.

Ultimately, the ECB would still stand to be benefit from such an arrangement. Not only would any Welsh international player of significant quality still be able to transfer their allegiance to England (just as Irishmen Ed Joyce, Boyd Rankin and World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan have done in recent times), but the level of funding they supplied the nation would fall significantly, with the suggestion being that they could slowly decrease the amount of money sent in the manner they did with both Ireland and Scotland, which would eventually fell to nothing. Cricket Wales, who precedent suggests would be able to become an associate nation within the ICC structure without having to fulfil the three year period at affiliate level usually required of a new cricket association, would themselves benefit from ICC funding, which they would be able to divert according to their own requirements. They would also be able to reap the rewards of income from games played by their international side, which, although likely to be lower on a ‘per day’ basis than England games, would be played far more frequently and, over time, could prove to be significant if the Welsh people got behind their team to even a fraction of an extent that they do their football and rugby sides. Glamorgan too would benefit from this, providing that they were willing to allow these games to be played at Sophia Gardens.

And yet, this final point raises what I believe to be the biggest issue with the whole idea, one which is strangely absent from any of the responses to the 2013 petitions committee report: that of scheduling. As the squad of players I have assembled below shows, the vast majority of quality, Wales eligible, players (of which I’m aware - there may well be a bunch of Surrey players with a Welsh nan) play for Glamorgan. Home internationals played during the British summer would cause substantial difficulties when it comes to raising a decent side, particularly if Glamorgan’s players were contractually obliged to play for their county rather than their country in conflicting fixtures (likely to be the case if they retain affiliation with the ECB - a fact which undermines Hugh Morris’ assertion that Glamorgan ‘would lose their players’).

Wales could easily a field of county second-team and minor county players and remain competitive, but would probably struggle against higher quality affiliate nations like The Netherlands, Scotland and Nepal, a base requirement if the ultimate ambition is qualification for major tournaments.  Circumnavigating this would need the cooperation of both the ICC and the ECB, which is a pipe dream under their current respective governments. It would also require Welsh players to be willing to add to the not insubstantial number of games played in their already hectic summer schedule, which there is no guarantee they would be willing to do, even with the reward of international representation at the end of it.

Any decision ultimately lie sin the hands of Cricket Wales, who, partly as a result of their own reliance on Glamorgan, have never voiced any desire to become a member of the ICC. They, like Glamorgan, currently exist as one of the 39 ‘county’ boards affiliated to the ECB, fielding a team in the minor county structure. Despite the money ICC membership would bring in, there is no guarantee this would match what they receive through the ECB partnership, and so their reluctance is somewhat understandable. And yet, given the potential benefits such a gamble could present in the long run (and if the barriers noted here are resolved), ICC membership could be hugely beneficial both for the growth of the cricket in Wales, which is essentially the point of their existence, and financially. It doesn’t seem as though Glamorgan or Cricket Wales have made any effort to explore the opportunity to any great extent, at least not in public, and I would be willing to suggest (with some hesitation) that they are more concerned about protecting their brand, and preservation of the status quo, than the people of the country they claim to represent.

Certainly, it is hard to escape the fact that there are certain Colonialist undertones to the current representation of Wales in international cricket, and for many, this, and the question of national pride implicit within it, is far more important than any financial argument could ever be. It is unfortunate then, that each of the parties involved in any decision to change this, Cricket Wales and Glamorgan, seem to vehemently disagree with the idea. Perhaps this will change going forwards, but at the moment, Glamorgan are, perhaps justifiably, far more concerned with Glamorgan than they are with Wales.

The Squad
The lineup and squad below are constructed for white-ball cricket, but based on player performance across all formats at county, second eleven and minor county levels.

Lineup
1. David Lloyd (Captain)(Glamorgan)
Lloyd’s Glamorgan captaincy would make him the obvious choice as skipper for the national side too.  His T20 record is also the best amongst the players here, averaging 23.47 at 132.67 (10 fifties) in 72 inns.

2. Nye Donald (Hampshire)
Donald is perhaps the most dangerous player in the side, although his white ball record is not as impressive as his reputation might suggest, averaging less than 20 in both List A and T20 cricket. There are undoubtedly mitigating circumstances, with injuries having significantly hampered his career, but it remains to be seen if he can come good on the potential suggested by record-breaking 136 ball 234 he hit as a nineteen-year old in the County Championship. At 26, there is still plenty of time for him to develop into a very goodcounty player, although regardless of this I would suggest would have no issues at associate level international cricket.

3. Chris Cooke  (Glamorgan)
Cooke is a bit of cheeky addition, given that he was born in Johannesburg, but given that even the English have been poaching South Africans for years, I’m getting him in. He would more than fulfil residency requirements, having played for Glamorgan since 2011, and is one of the most underrated players in the county game, being one of only four English eligible players to average over 50 in the County Championship since 2019 (min 30 inns. - Pope, Sibley and Malan being the others).
Whilst his white ball record is not on the same level, he would be a valued addition to the lineup, especially as he also a more than competent wicket-keeper.

4. Tom Bevan (Glamorgan)
Bevan is a promising 23 year old batter who made his Glamorgan début in all three formats in 2022, scoring 134 as an opening batsman in a Royal London Cup game against Hampshire.

5. Kiran Carlson (Glamorgan)
Whilst Carlson has had limited success in T20 cricket for Glamorgan, and hasn’t passed 50 in the format since 2018, he is however a proven run scorer in the longer form of the game, scoring 928 runs at 48.84 (with 3 hundreds and 5 fifties) in 2021. He also had a decent 50 over season in 2022, and at 24 is yet to reach his peak.

6.Brad Wadlan (Wales National Counties)
The current player-coach of the Wales National Counties side who play at minor county level, Wadlan is someone with a very strong professional record (at least on the surface). His First-Class record in particular suggest someone who should have played far more than 15 games, with his batting average of 31.26 (incl 6 fifties) and bowling average of 18.98 (67 wickets at a SR of 37.95) suggestive of an elite all-rounder. There is a caveat: all of these games were played in the Zimbabwean domestic system. None-the-less, surely Glamorgan would have been worth giving him a go in the County Championship off the back of success there? Kent did so with Ben Compton this year and that worked out fairly well.
He has been by far WNC’s best batter and bowler over the last few years, although in white-ball cricket his record as a bowler is more impressive than as a batter, and he hasn’t played much of it over the last few years. Even so, I would back him to be a solid contributor to a Welsh side.

7. Cam Herring (WK) (Wales National Counties)
A former pro with Gloucestershire, he has been a regular at minor county level for WNC since 2016, and is currently the captain of their red ball side. He is a wicket-keeper-batter with a decent, if not outstanding, record with the bat for each of these sides, but at his best would be more than capable of scoring runs in associate cricket.

8. James Harris (Glamorgan)
Probably the best known of the players here, Harris has enjoyed a successful career in domestic cricket since making his début as a 17 year old back in 2007. Although predominately a red-ball cricketer, with 539 wickets at 29.24 in the format, his List A record, combined with his experience and status as Wales’ most talented bowler since Simon Jones, means I have largely overlooked his T20 record in his selection.

9. Prem Sissioda  (Glamorgan)
A former England under 19 international who bowls left-arm spin, Prem Sissioda has taken 32 wickets for Glamorgan in T20s, although at an average of almost 30 and an economy of nearly 8, has a bit to do before he considered a staple of their lineup. However, at only 24, and with a good record in minor counties and second eleven cricket, he could easily develop into a solid player, and certainly one deserving of a place in a Welsh international side.

10. Roman Walker (Leics)
A 22 year-old from Wrexham who, like Sissioda, is a former English under-19s international. A pace bowler who has played for Leicestershire since 2019, he has made a strong start to his T20 career with 17 wickets at 22.82. He also appeared in List A cricket for them and made his Championship début earlier this year.

11. Richard Edwards (Wales National Counties)
A medium-pacer from Neath who has played second-eleven cricket for a few county sides, most recently for Sussex. In minor counties T20 cricket he has taken 20 wickets at 21.90, with an economy of 6.53, suggesting him to be a more than capable player, and one who may well pop in county cricket in the coming years.

12th man: Andrew Salter  (Glamorgan)
Salter is one them all-rounders who might be termed ‘bits and pieces’; he averages 23 with the bat and 44 with the ball in First-Class cricket, and 22 and 50 in List A). On his day, however, he is capable of producing match winning performances, and with his 33 Chmapionship wickets at 32.81 in 2022, is coming off the back of his best season with the ball. He also played a lot of T20 cricket and has taken 67 wickets at an average of less than 30 for Glamorgan. With the batting in the above side fairly weak, he would also provide a bit more depth if brought in for one of the seamers.
Either way, he is another whose record and experience suggests a player who would be a solid Affiliate level player.

Some Reserves, Squad Players and Prospects

Batters
Alex Horton (Glamorgan/WNC)

Connor Brown (WNC)

Morgan Bevans (WNC)

Callum Taylor (Glamorgan/WNC)

Phil Salt (Lancashire)
This is a bit of a wildcard, and would only be possible if he fell out of favour with the England selectors indefinitely. He would be by far the strongest batter in the squad.

Xavier Clarke (Shropshire)
A 22 year old who went to school in Llanyfllin, Powys, and has a good record for Shropshire. His older brother plays for Nottinghamshire and is also eligible for selection through his schooling, but would not make any side selected by me.

Pace Bowlers
Sam Jardine (WNC)

Ben Morris (WNC)

Lukas Carey  (WNC)

Spin-Bowlers
Rhodri Lewis (Berkshire)

Tegid Philips (WNC)

Keiran Bull (WNC)

Sam Pearce (WNC)
Leg-spinner who is Captain of the WNC white-ball teams.

*Phil Salt, who played his first cricket as a kid for St Asaph.