Pakistan-born leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed’s qualification to represent Australia has been a mini version of that which surrounded Zimbabwean-born Graeme Hick’s qualification to represent his adopted England in 1991.
Hick, of course, had a far more imposing first-class record than Ahmed’s by the time he debuted.
And, unlike Ahmed’s situation, there was a finite countdown to Hick’s international debut.
He was required to serve a seven-year residency requirement before he would be eligible to step out for his adopted nation.
History indicates that while he was a lion at county level he was somewhat of a lamb in international ranks, averaging 31.3 from 65 Tests – that against a first-class average of 52.2 with 136 centuries.
Ahmed when, and if, selected will not carry the weight of expectation on his shoulders that Hick had to carry onto the international stage.
Ahmed is a step closer to wearing the baggy green in the forthcoming Ashes series following Federal parliament passing an amended Citizenship Act that, as soon as passed into law, will fast-track his citizenship and passport.
As things currently stand he cannot debut prior to 18 August, ruling him out of the first four Ashes Tests.
It is a meteoric rise to the cusp of representing his adopted country.
He sort political asylum from his home in Abbottabad on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border – the city in which US troops killed Osama bin Laden.
He arrived in Australia, at the age of 28, in 2010 having played ten first-class matches in Pakistan for a modest return.
He made his first-class debut for the Victoria Bushrangers in March and a month later signed a three-year deal with the team.
In his three Sheffield Shield matches late in the summer he claimed 16 wickets at 28.4.
Former Test leggie Stuart MacGill is a big fan, as is Damien Martyn who declared that he is the best spinner in Australia since Shane Warne after having a net against him.
The thought of attempting to expedite a foreign-born player’s status to represent Australia was considered anathema prior to the Ahmed case.
The fact that Cricket Australia has moved heaven and earth to entice parliament to amend a national law emphasises the country’s current dearth of both international quality spinners and its recent lacklustre performances at international level.
It begs the question as to just what happened to all those youngsters we were told were attempting to emulate Warne by bowling leg-spin during the blonde tweaker’s record-breaking career?
For whatever reason they collectively failed to make an impression – 21-year-old New South Welshman Adam Zampa may eventually prove the exception.
Nobody would have seriously considered that Australia would unearth another Warne after his international retirement in early-2007.
But, for a country that has an immensely proud history of leg-spin bowlers, the fact that the cupboard is so bare at present is a major concern.
Traditionally, off-spinners on Australian pitches – whether they be local products or tourists – have struggled to have a significant impact at Test level.
Muttiah Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh, as good as they were, both averaged over 70 runs per wicket on Australian pitches.
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon is the incumbent Test spinner and while he has been solid at times he has also shown an inability to ‘get the job done’ in the fourth innings in several Tests.
MacGill has been recently announced as a specialist coach and mentor for Australia’s young leg-spinners.
He needs to make an impact.
There has long been a concern among the cricket fraternity that many multi-talented athletes in this country have chosen the football codes ahead of the traditional summer sport – the reason being a far larger number of opportunities and often a greater prospect of a larger salary.
The recent television deal signed between Cricket Australia and the Nine and Ten networks will go a long way to changing the perspective in respect to potential income.
Test and ODI skipper Michael Clarke is projected to earn $6 million per year with around $2m of that coming from Cricket Australia – making him the highest paid home-based sportsman.
A further dozen players are expected to earn over $1 million while the top State-based contract will now be just shy of $250,000.
Cricket Australia will be hoping that such numbers entice young gifted sportsmen to lean towards cricket as their professional sporting career path.
And then let’s hope that some of them are budding leg-spinners who live up to their early expectations.
Otherwise, we may have to lay-off the likes of England who have shown a propensity to bolster its stocks with foreign-born players.
Andy
Guest
well, Fawad Ahmed just ripped thru the might of Scotland..oh hang on.. he took 0-60. So, thats no wickets against a bunch of part timers.
Give me the Aussie pls!
Guest
Here's 21 Australian Test Cricketers not born in Australia (with country of birth). Seems Australia have fielded more Poms than a morris dancing team. ENGLAND (10): Charles Bannerman, John Hodges, Tom Kendall, William Midwinter, Percy McDonnell, William Cooper, Henry Musgrove, Hanson Carter, Tony Dell and Andrew Symonds. SCOTLAND (1): Archie Jackson. IRELAND (2): Tom Horan, Tom Kelly. SOUTH AFRICA (1): Kepler Wessels. NEW ZEALAND (3): Tom Groube, Clarrie Grimmett and Brendon Julian. INDIA (2): Bransby Cooper and Rex Sellers. SRI LANKA (1): Dav Whatmore. PAKISTAN (1) Usman Khawja, Fawad Ahmed Lets not even start on the non-Australians in the Wallabies. Quade Cooper (NZ), Will Genia (PNG), Mike Harris (NZ), Digby Ioane (NZ), Stephen Moore (Saudi Arabia), David Pocock (Zimbabwe), Radike Samo (Fiji), Sitaleki Timani (Tonga) The 2012 Australian London Olympic squad has the highest number of athletes not born in the country they represent in the entire competition. An incredible 19% of Australian squad were born outside of Australia. The last people in the world who should be getting sniffly about nationality are Australians.
Buckerz
Guest
So don't play Ahmed
Buckerz
Guest
What about Agar, O'keefe, Holland, Boyce even? Why not use one of these fellas. O'keefe and Agar are two that would actually deserve a place in the Australian test squad based on form. PICK THEM YOU DUMB SELECTORS!!!
Vikramsinh
Guest
Being A Sports man is not an easy thing you got to work hard If Some one works harder he gets push- IN Schools............ Colleges..............Every ware............. So for me, " Great Work Australia" In cricket "Leggie" is not only hard work but natural talent (God gift) If God is ready to Fast Trakeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Who Are We?
Brendon
Guest
Not going to happen......I wouldn't bat an eye lid if Soccer was never played on Aus soil again, see another match decided by a penalty the other week against Japan, wow, I wish more AFL and cricket games were decided by umpiring decisions, what fun
Brendon
Guest
Paying more will help at the top end, most elite athletes are identified in their mid teens, you only need to look at how many #1 draft picks are good footballers (most of them) to see that it's reasonably easy to spot talent. If the AFL or Rugby say, we'll pay you $80k straight up then cricket can now compete for the best athletes by paying them good money to play shield. Up until now you didn't earn much until you played for Australia, therefore limiting the earning potential, this won't be so much of a factor now.
Brendon
Guest
Compton?
Brendon
Guest
He does however have a legitimate reason to be in Aus, not just to play cricket like those mentioned above.
Macca
Guest
If he was only mopping up the tail why did he have to bowl 15 overs per wicket?
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Dernbach is very ordinary...no idea how he has played so often for England. If Warney and Liz have a boy I don't think we'll need to worry...he'll probably shun cricket in favour of becoming a reality tv star.
Glenn Mitchell
Expert
I have to disagree Sheek, in fact very strongly. The current top five ranked T20 bowlers in the workd are all spin bowlers. If anything, spinners are the most effective bowlers in T20 cricket.
Bearfax
Guest
Look if Ahmed is declared a citizen of Australia, then he is from that point on an Australian. Pietersen and Trott are English citizens. Khawaja was made an Australian citizen a long time ago. Doesnt matter why they became citizens or how it was done. If they are declared and accept citizenship, then they are citizens of their new country and eligible to represent it. If anything I'm opposed to dual citizenships because one should be loyal first to the country you identify as your home land only. There has to be a line that all of us when our choice of country to which we declare loyalty is crossed and we are officially recognised as a citizen. Most of us are lucky because we were born here. Others had to fight tooth and nail for that opportunity often sacrificing much. But once that declaration is made officially, the Ahmeds, Khawajas, Trotts, Pietersons etc are citizens of their new country and have no different rights than any one else who is a citizen of a specific land. All this other emotive talk is irrelevant. Now whether Ahmed should be permitted to step into a test squad ahead of others without proving himself in Australia's shield comp Well that is a separate issue and maybe the Zampas and Agars have a reason for dispute.
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Whatever the contribution of Pietersen in 2005 or that of Trott in 2009 you cannot ignore the contributions of others and in particular the bowlers whose national origins are not 'problematic' Pietersen and Trott's contributions should be seen in that context. Ahmed's contribution may be far more decisive from an Australian perspective. It may reduce the margin by which Australia are defeated in upcoming matches. Pietersen wasn't playing yesterday and Trott and Morgan's contributions were massively overshadowed by that of Bell, Anderson, Treadwell , Broad...... Broaded the discussion beyond ashes contests by all means.
MervUK
Guest
Pietersen and trott are mercenaries id agree ronan, but although their contributions to 2005 and 2009 were significant in the last tests of the series...it is naive to suggest they were the difference. England played the better cricket throughout and were the deserved winners, any suggestion otherwise would merely paper over the Aussie cracks. The difference between prior and khawaja, is that prior has an English parent, I was under the impression khawaja did not, but I was being polite., although I have no issue with him representing australia. Compton ( I think playing cricket at harrow, would constitute a cricketing education) is the same and has English parentage who lived abroad, the rest are questionable, nobody really wants kieswetter and dernbach playing for England, as Tom has illustrated. Again my question is what if warne and Hurley gave birth to a world class leg spinner who was born in the uk and then moved to australia at 14, would you question his claim to play for australia? I seriously doubt it, and he would be vilified if he chose to play for England.
Nick Richardson
Roar Guru
Watch the story of his life. He had an interview with CA and it is amazing.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
England would not have won in 2005 without Pietersen and in 2009 without he and Trott. I also appreciate the way you have narrowed this debate now only to contributions in Ashes contests! Nice effort.
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Didn't broad rip through Australia at the Oval in 2009? Didn't Finn take 14 or so Australian wickets in 2010/11 before Tremlett came over and, quite frankly, bullied the Australian batsmen? I seem to remember that Onions got a hatful of Australian wickets in 2009 too. Surely Cook's batting has been more impressive than that of Pietersen and Trott? Wasn't he hailed as the new Bradman after the 2010/11 Ashes tour? I seem to remember Harmison bullying Hayden back into his crease in 2005. Flintoff contributed a little in 2005 and 2009 didn't he? Swann has been a key factor too and Australia has nothing like him within its borders; that's why they have to import foreign talent with no affinity with Australia. I think that puts Pietersen and Trott's contributions in context I care more about test cricket than ODIs. Morgan, Kieswetter and Dernbach are not regarded as test candidates.. I care about all sports and the relative balance of sporting power between England, Britain and Australia and that is why I mentioned the other sports.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
It's always a heated topic Tom. In response I'd like to point out: - You believe England's success at Test level in recent years is more to do with the contributions of the likes of Tremlett and Onions than Pietersen and Trott?! Anderson and Swann have been as instrumental as the Saffie pair...Broad not even close. - You say Fawad Ahmed is significant despite never having played for Australia...yet dismiss the significance of Dernbach (SA), Morgan (IRE), Kieswetter (SA), Meaker (SA), and Stokes (NZ) who have all actually played for England. - Merv asked what was the difference between Prior and Khawaja and I gave an answer. - Henriques moved to Australia aged one. - I could care less about tennis, winter sports, rugby union and athletics. But I do have unbridled lust for cricket.
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Yes. Prior must have been a man of the world at age 11-seen it all, done it all, eh? Dernbach, Morgan ,Kieswetter won't play much test cricket. England's resurgence has been due mostly to likes of Anderson, Broad,, Tremlett,,Swann,, Onions, The point about Ahmed is that Australia have parachuted in some one with no prior affinity to Australia to compensate for cricketing inadequacy . The fact that the jury is out on his potential contribution does not change that fact. Tell me a little about Moises Henriques. How can Australians whinge on about his issue given that Australia is notorious among the nations for importing foreign talent to compensate for its inadequacy in tennis, winter sports, rugby union, athletics....