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So there we have it. Paddington born Sam Robson – only a powerful Matty Hayden off-side drive from the SCG itself – has been picked for the England Performance Programme to tour Australia this Northern Hemisphere winter.
The 24-year-old right handed opener has played cricket for New South Wales Under-17s, Under-19s, the Australian Under-19 team, the University of New South Wales, and Eastern Suburbs, not to mention Middlesex and now the England Performance Squad.
How do you feel about that?
As an Englishman and a Middlesex supporter I am delighted – even if I am yet to be convinced I will find my Aussies mates feeling the same way.
Having seen him bat a considerable amount of times since he made his debut back in 2009, I think the lad is a terrific prospect.
Calm, athletic and in possession of a good technique he will play Test cricket at some stage in the not-too-distant future.
The only question was who for?
Robson is currently number two runscorer in the top tier of the County Championship which ends this week, having scored 1,180 runs at an eye-catching average of 47.20.
Australia even relaxed their own qualifying regulations which sanction those with dual nationality to be classed as domestic qualified cricketers in one or more countries. They even called it the ‘Robson Rule’ for heaven’s sake.
The modification permitted Robson to escape having to decide between Middlesex and New South Wales, and also in having to choose immediately which country to opt for.
Now it seems that thorny question has been answered.
England have snapped him up – and unless there is a significant change of heart – or a great will on behalf of those in the corridors of power of Cricket Australia to persuade him to change his mind, then England it shall remain.
Of course anything can happen in sport, but it is fair to state that England have registered a sizeable gain in their pursuit of young Sam by picking him for the month long Performance tour of Brisbane and Perth, which will run alongside a portion of the forthcoming Ashes down under.
Robson said this morning:
“When I first came to England six years ago my aim was simply to try and improve as a cricketer.
“I have loved my life in London, love playing for Middlesex and have been very fortunate to have worked with Angus Fraser, the rest of the Middlesex coaching team and all of the players at the club.
“It is a great honour and a real privilege to have been selected in the England Performance Programme and I am hugely excited and really looking forward to the winter ahead.”
Although not as explicit as many English cricket lovers would have liked it to be, the last paragraph indicates Robson’s future thinking.
As Geoff Miller, a national selector also said this morning:
“The England Performance Programme provides an excellent opportunity for those players identified as having considerable talent to train together in an England environment throughout the winter and further develop as cricketers and this is an exciting young squad who have impressed in domestic cricket recently,” he said.
“The time spent at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough and Australia allows our coaches to work intensively with the players and assess their readiness to graduate to the full England side when the opportunity arises.
“Gary Ballance, Boyd Rankin and Ben Stokes have all come through the EPP in recent years and have put in strong performances for their counties and England teams to earn an opportunity to step into the Test environment.”
The young squad will be based in Brisbane at the Cricket Australia high performance centre for a month before moving to the University of Western Australia in Perth.
They will play two three-day matches in Brisbane as well as a match in Perth.
I will be writing more on the performance squad and England’s Ashes selection’s in the coming days, but in the meantime what do you think of Cricket Australia seemingly not pushing hard enough for Robson?
Or is it more a case of simply allowing the player to choose?
I don’t blame Robson one iota in what must have been an agonisingly difficult choice.
As his teammate and fellow countryman, the redoubtable Chris Rogers told me in an exclusive interview for The Roar only a few weeks ago:
“As an Aussie I want the best available players to play for Australia,” he said.
“There is a lot of background to his story and he needs to make his own decision – but whatever it will be I will respect that as he’s a good friend and I will support him.”
I for one am delighted for Robson.
But then I would be – I’m a Middlesex and England fan.
* Thanks to Stephen Fletcher and Middlesex CCC for Sam Robson’s quote.
England Performance Squad
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Danny Briggs (Hampshire), Jos Buttler (Somerset), Varun Chopra (Warwickshire), Ben Foakes (Essex), James Harris (Middlesex), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Simon Kerrigan (Lancashire), Alex Lees (Yorkshire), Tymal Mills (Essex), Jamie Overton* (Somerset), Sam Robson (Middlesex), Reece Topley (Essex), James Vince (Hampshire), David Willey (Northamptonshire), Mark Wood* (Durham)
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