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[Manormanic]

I doubt that the genteel 125kph Praveen Kumar would get a gig ahead of the faster trio they have at present to be honest.

Not sure about that - they've never been that obsessed by pace and he did so a superb job in the UK.

[Manormanic]

Humm - KP and Trott were rejected by SA and Ireland isn't a test playing country - so poaching is not really the right word.
there are also a large number of up and coming English/Welsh players in the lions squad - so they have a chance of pushing on without using foreign players.

Poaching would be if we had chased after the players concerned anyway, and we didn't - they all came looking for us!

I don't necessarily like it, but they're qualified to play and it would be churlish to say "no"!

[Vic Nicholas]

Humm - KP and Trott were rejected by SA and Ireland isn't a test playing country - so poaching is not really the right word.

Both would be playing for SA by now if they stuck around.

Mercenaries.

Hussey wasn't picked for Australia until he was 31 - should he have explored some distant English ancestry to play test cricket sooner?

What about Brad Hodge and poor Jamie Siddons?

I am sure if they took the Trott/Pietersen route, they would have played heaps of tests for England.

Strauss and Prior at least were immigrants as kids - which is perfectly acceptable.

[Manormanic]

Hussey wasn't picked for Australia until he was 31 - should he have explored some distant English ancestry to play test cricket sooner?

I do love the hypocritical Aussie attitude to such things - its okay when Andrew Symonds plays for them despite been a Brit, or when their rugby team has a mixture of failed All Blacks - Quade Cooper being the ulimate sell out - Canadians, Zimboks, New Guineans and the like - but as soon as they get pasted by a team who do the same they start sooking like babies!

[Vic Nicholas]

Not sure about that - they've never been that obsessed by pace and he did so a superb job in the UK.

On the contrary.

On this tour Down Under the Indians have made a lot of noise about the fact that both Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma can hit speeds up to 150kph (about 93mph) and Zaheer up to 143 (90mph).

Praveen Kumar's 78mph deliveries that would barely swing in Australia would simply be road kill.

He would not have been first choice. In fact Aaron is the next cab off the rank as he too also bowls around teh 93mph mark.

[uknsaunders]

KP was playing as an off-spinner in SA state cricket and trott wasn't uprooting trees. They have become what they are by playing cricket in england and learning their trade.

Plenty of other countries have used our system to make their players better.

[ppccopener]

Trott and Pieterson both have English mothers.
whilst the debate still goes on if they are 'english' enough to represent our country they qualify by the rules.
It may not be liked but growing up watching england allan lamb and robin smith played for us and we welcomed them in back then-so it's nothing new.
England v South Africa this summer im sure will be lively on the field,but the facts are it's a pro game and they play for England.
KP ive never particularly liked myself but i'll support him and Trott all the way in an England shirt.Same as I did last summer for Ravi Bops and Samit when the Indian fans all around the at the Oval were hurling some pretty disgusting abuse at them.

[Vic Nicholas]

I do love the hypocritical Aussie attitude to such things - its okay when Andrew Symonds plays for them despite been a Brit, or when their rugby team has a mixture of failed All Blacks - Quade Cooper being the ulimate sell out - Canadians, Zimboks, New Guineans and the like - but as soon as they get pasted by a team who do the same they start sooking like babies!

For the hundredth time...Andy Symonds was one month old when he was adoptded by an Aussie family and brought out here. They must have been remarkably prescient to forsee his latent cricket skills as a one month old.

A Brit? Just ask him and he would kick you in the nuts at the merest suggestion.

I am no great rugby fan, but don't New Zealand have half a side made up of Tongans, Samoans etc?

The Zimbo (Pocock) came here with his mum and dad as a teenager - he wasn't recruited.

Canadian? Who is that?

As for Quade Cooper - can we send him back to NZ?

I love it when Pommy cricket fans clutch at all sorts of straws in order to lend their team some cache of credibility.

I do not begrudge your #1 status or even winning the last couple Ashes series, but all these hypotheticals as to who will be in your test team in the next five years as the top order gradually gets put out to pasture is big waste of bandwidth.

No matter how many candidates are put forward as prospects... "Johnny So and So from Lancs is a gun young batsman...just you wait and see" should come with the disclaimer "...but in reality, the ECB recruitment office in Cape Town is busily offering financial inducements to a couple of SA u19's batting stars who are busily studying their genealogy to see if in amongst all that Afrikaaner blood there might be some British blood in there...somewhere".

That would be closer to the mark.

We know it only too well.

You blokes know it too.

[petehosk]

As was mentioned KP and others have 1 parent SA and 1 parent Brit.
As I mentioned months ago out of all the people playing for England, the player with perhaps the least 'right' to is probably Morgan!! 
But that doesn't mean we don't want him - he's a God when he's on form and happy to have him! 

[Vic Nicholas]

Trott and Pieterson both have English mothers.

On that basis you guys could claim (in no particular order):

James Pattinson
Shaun Tait
Michael Slater
Stuart Clark
Phil Jacques

...as they all had TWO English parents.

Two trumps one I am sure you would agree.

Where does this end?

[Manormanic]

Where does this end?

with you dropping the double standards would be a nice start! 

[The_Bird]

All you've done is prove how stupid this debate is, it's always happened and always will. Stuart Law and Mushtaq Ahmed are qualified to play for us I reckon it's worth a shout!!!

[Vic Nicholas]

with you dropping the double standards would be a nice start! 

As I don't follow rugby (like most Australians), I don't see that I have any double standards.

Calling Symonds a "Brit" when he is obviously a Jamaican by ancestry and an Australian by proclivity is what I call double standards.

But this is always a circular argument - so we will give it a break!

[alba caerulea]

Calling Symonds a "Brit" when he is obviously a Jamaican by ancestry and an Australian by proclivity is what I call double standards.

Why is he obviously Jamaican by ancestry?

[cricketbadger]

On that basis you guys could claim (in no particular order):

James Pattinson
Shaun Tait
Michael Slater
Stuart Clark
Phil Jacques

...as they all had TWO English parents.

Two trumps one I am sure you would agree.

Where does this end?

we dont want them their all crap

oh and whos this jonny so and so from lancs?
im intrigued