When people talk about the Australian cricket team, there is one question always asked: Do the selectors favour NSW players?
Since the greatest series of all time in 2005, the answer is yes, however not by as much as you would expect.
The Blue Baggers have since then had the most players wear the baggy green, with 12:
Phil Jaques
Stuart Clark
Brad Haddin
Beau Casson
Doug Bollinger
Phil Hughes
Steven Smith
Usman Khawaja
Trent Copeland
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Moses Henriques
You could make a claim that Starc, Henriques and Smith did not deserve a baggy green when they got their’s but all three of those players made a case that they did.
Victorians in paticular hate the fact that these Blue Baggers are named over their golden boys, with Bradley Hodge in paticular getting fired up numerous times.
It led one of the more flamboyant cricketers in David Hookes to make this comment, “when they give out the baggy blue cap in New South Wales, they give you a baggy green one in a brown paper bag as well to save making two presentations.”
These golden boys of Victoria have had the chances to wear the baggy green:
Brad Hodge
Cameron White
Peter Siddle
Andrew McDonald
Bryce McGain
James Pattinson
Matthew Wade
Rob Quiney
John Hastings
Glenn Maxwell
That’s 10 players, only two behind NSW.
The proud state of South Australia have no local born talent representing them for the next tour of South Africa.
Phil Hughes was recently called up, but we have him as a born and bred Blue Bagger.
While the South Australians will proudly call him their own when he gets a big 100 this tour (I’m calling it), he is just one of a number of players who are playing for a state they were not born in.
Ryan Harris was in fact born in New South Wales, but started on his way as a bowling all rounder for South Australia.
He now plays for the mighty Queensland Bulls.
Jackson Bird was New South Wales through and through, with blue everywhere in his heart, however he worked his way into a baggy green with the Stars and Tasmania.
Mitch Johnson is a tough Bulls man himself and first got his selection there, but now finds calls home a place where he makes even the best batsman scared of the wild bounce of WA.
Chris Rogers is a recently claimed Victorian and as a Victorian I won’t even admit where he came from.
The most intresting case is Shane Watson.
Shane made his way through the ranks of Tasmanian cricket before moving back to his home of Queensland.
Now he ripped his soul away again from the Queensland boys to play for New South Wales.
He still gets the odd game for the Brisbane Heat but even then a lot have turned on him.
Lots of people will tell you Watson gets picked on the basis he was a good boy and moved to NSW, while naughty boys Hughes and Khawaja moved away.
It’s all a conspiracy folks, I for one believe the Blue Baggers scheme has greatly diminished from what it once was.
This is the results of all states:
New South Wales – 12
Victoria – 10
Tasmania – eight
WA – six
SA – four
Queensland – two
Chauncy Boombah
Roar Rookie
Rob Quiney was used as cannon fodder to save a certain NSW player from the South African guns - and was then dumped for his trouble, nothing more.
Ezo
Guest
This might be a little bit of fun but in reality - load of crap.
Beauty of a geek brains of a bimbo(atgm)
Guest
Sayers shud be given a chance.thats all i m sayin.
Nick Rance
Roar Rookie
Thanks for pointing that out, I did miss those 2 somehow had them all written down so just a bad memory thing haha! So in that case NSW goes to 13 Victoria to 11 I think I counted Lyon but he was playing with South Australia at the time so he's with them on the list.
Ducko
Guest
Aren't some players picked on potential? For example, James Muirhead's recent T20 selection was not based on his consistent performance but his enormous potential. Imagine if James was from NSW? The Vic's would still be screeching about bias.
Ducko
Guest
Is the list even correct? No Clint McKay - he did play a test in 2009.What about Nathan Lyon and David Warner? I always thought that the claim of bias was largely nonsense from Victorians, easily explained by population differences. Besides, during the era in question, Australia dominated. If there was a bias, it clearly worked.
Silver_Sovereign
Guest
QLD last season were champions in all forms of domestic cricket last season and Khawaja and Harris was all that resulted for national teams
Adam
Guest
Population size might give one clue to 'bias'
Christian D'Aloia
Roar Guru
Wow, that stat tells a different story to the stat in the article.
Pom in Oz
Roar Guru
I have heard this NSW favouritism tale a few times. Based on the numbers of players representing Oz from each state, at the bottom of the article, I thought it would be interesting to look at the per capita numbers. Qld 0.4 players per million people NSW 1.6 Vic 1.8 WA 2.4 SA 2.4 and Tas a whopping 15.7
Alicesprings
Guest
Also surprised by QLD's seemingly poor output. Is QLD cricket struggling at the moment or is it just part of the natural cycle? Anyway puts to death the theory that the AFL states can't churn out quality cricketers.
me, I like football
Guest
Picked by the Sydney based media, which clouds the judgement of selectors. But I agree with Alicespings that bias has since been corrected
JGK
Roar Guru
No 1 due to their South African spinner and NSW opener.
peeeko
Roar Guru
How well have SA gone in the shield before this year?
Beauty of a geek brains of a bimbo(atgm)
Guest
Yes absolutely.south australians deserve more oppourtunities.theh are no.1 in the ss ffs
Peaches
Guest
That doesn't seem to matter to those from other states though. Nevermind that it's often NSW giving younger players opportunities while other states play older cricketers who'll never play for the country over the exceptional young talent. We just breed them better in NSW.
JGK
Roar Guru
That is the elephant in the room James. There hasn't been a NSW based selectors in years.
jameswm
Guest
Picked by who though? By selectors from other statees.
Alicesprings
Guest
Totally agree..this perception really gathered momentum with brad hodges failure to crack into the test team. Also I feel like whatever bias there was has since been corrected!
Silver_Sovereign
Guest
I would qualify it to say that a lot of the NSW players selected haven't got the runs on the board and are picked over more deserving player from other states who put up season after season of consistent good results.