Australia are set to lose another talented cricketer to England, with the younger brother of convert Sam Robson indicating he too may choose the Poms over his home country.
Leicestershire batsman Angus Robson underlined his potential with a rapidfire 126 against the touring Indian Test side on the weekend.
Making his innings even more notable was the fact the Indian attack boasted no less than eight specialist bowlers in contention to play in the upcoming Tests against England.
It continued an impressive vein of form which has seen him make 563 runs at 51 in his past six matches for the county side.
While he is yet to register his maiden county century – he only debuted last September – the 22-year-old has been brilliantly consistent for Leicestershire, with eight scores of 46 or higher in his past 14 innings.
Just like his 24-year-old brother Sam, Angus was born in Australia, grew up in Sydney, played under-19 cricket for New South Wales and has dual citizenship thanks to his English mother. And just like England’s new Test opener, Angus is also considering choosing to play for England instead of Australia should he earn the opportunity to make such a choice in the future.
He told media in Britain last week that he hoped one day to be able to select between representing one of the two countries.
“If I keep doing well, which I hope I do, maybe in another few years I might be closer to having to make a decision like that,” Robson said.
“I suppose it’s good I’ve got him (Sam) to talk to if anything like that ever does come up.”
Angus said that his own dream of playing international cricket had been enlivened after watching his brother compile a commanding century in just his second Test, against Sri Lanka last week.
“Absolutely (but) it’s obviously a long way off for me at the moment,” he said. “When you see it at such close distance, it only makes you more determined to do well. Maybe, one day.”
Although, as Angus himself admitted, he remains well shy of pushing for national honours, Australian cricket followers would be justifiably dismayed were they to lose a second Robson to England.
Cricket Australia made a mess of handling Sam Robson and as a result the country has lost a young man who has the tools required to be a fine Test player.
Given the relative dearth of emerging batting talent in the Sheffield Shield, missing out on the older Robson was a stinging blow. His circumspection and admirable patience are tailor made for opening the batting in Tests and he could have been an able foil for the cavalier David Warner once veteran Chris Rogers retires.
It was reported last year that, despite Robson representing Australia at under-19 level, Cricket Australia paid no attention to him until he was almost qualified to play for England.
CA’s belated attempts to entice him back to Australia failed. It remains to be seen whether CA will try to ensure that Angus, too, is not lost to England – that is, if he becomes a player worthy of such attention.
But you would hope they will have taken note of his rollicking century against India.
It hurt Australian cricket followers to see Sam Robson in an England kit. Imagine the reaction were both brothers to defect to the Old Enemy.
SDHoneymonster
Guest
Depends - the quality in Division One is getting higher all the time, shown by the fact that so many of the teams that get promoted nowadays struggle to stay in it for more than a season. Wouldn't say the Shield is noticeably higher quality than Div One, in fact I'd argue there's a far better balance between bat & ball in England than there is in Oz at the moment. Div Two is a different matter entirely though, although to sort out the cack was the whole point of switching to the two tiered structure.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Southee and Bolt are a cracking new ball combination. They're going to give Australia a few headaches next year too.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
CA definitely failed with Robson, how he wasn't even on their radar is just bizarre.
Armchair Expert
Guest
Geraint Jones.
Nudge
Guest
Dunno, maybe spot the talent early, get them to the academy regularly, and basically make it bloody hard for them to go. Cricket Australia didn't even know who Sam Robson was till about 15 months ago. You reckon he would have felt wanted?
ChrisB
Guest
And your solution is? Nothing new here, the likes of Jack Walsh, Jock Livingston, Frank Tarrant etc trod this road years ago
Trenno
Guest
Not too concerned as they neither were on the radar here in Oz. Poms need as much help as they can get. Wont be long until England field a team where not one player was born in the UK, but at least they might be competitive.
Trenno
Guest
If he was born in Hong Kong then he will play for England just like my former coach Dermot Reeve did.
Frankie Hughes
Guest
Sam Robson was hardly a loss to Australia. The lad has limited talent and a below average technique. He'll be exposed by Southee and Boult in the early Pom summer next year. Then Mitch will rip him to pieces.
Broken=-hearted Toy
Guest
Nah, who cares which country they play for? It's their life after all. Money will understandably talk loudly when you are considering a career in cricket.
ATGM FROM THE FUTURE part 2
Guest
yesterday on july 2 2045 a.robson said he regrets choosin poms over oz after an unsuccessful stint with england team.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Well this says a lot about the dearth of talent in England but hey let him go aussie and nz players have opted for England for decades , centuries even -and it hasn't helped them an awful lot really -we're big enough to be confident about the players who are proud to play for Oz so there ;-)
Nick Inatey
Guest
I hope you are joking.
Albert
Guest
The problem as I see it is that if this continues It take away the point of test cricket between nations...do I really want to watch Australia 'a' play Australia 'b' or Oz v Rest of World?..... no I want watch an England side I can identify with which ( at least loosely) represents me, play Australia. I mean take Football or Soccer as you call it ......I always supported British teams (even Arsenal!) in European cup as they were almost entirely made up of players from the British isles , but now they are usually made up of mostly foreign players and as such I couldn't care less whether the 'British' team wins or not, I just want to see a good game and best team win.
Albert
Guest
Speaking personally as a Pom ....I wouldn't pick them. If, like Stokes, Strauss, Prior, they'd spent their formative years and learnt their cricket in England ....well all well and good....but to have been born and brought up in Oz ( albeit with English mom ) and learnt their cricket in Oz I don't think they should be allowed to play for England. I also think the grandparent rule is too arbitrary. Maybe they should set up some kind of 'independent' panel or tribunal to decide on these type of cases. To decide whether in reality there is a proper connection and affinity with the country they are representing (mainly England I'm sad to say). Which Pieterson clearly never had and should never have been allowed to play for England, even though he helped England get to the top of the tree for a short period. Whereas Gordon Greenidge I would have welcomed with open arms should he have chosen to represent England ( which I believe he could have) even though he was born in Barbados his family had made their home in England and he played for Hampshire before Barbados. I never liked the idea of Lamb , Hick or Robin Smith playing for England either....maybe I just don't like Saffas
Johnno
Guest
Craig White, Jasan Gallian. Gallian born on the northern beaches in Manly, captained Aust under-19's but ended up playing test cricket for England, go figure $.
Nanny Plum
Guest
To be fair the Hollioakes moved when they were kids, so learned their cricket in England.
Nudge
Guest
That's the key isn't it. 16 or 18 teams in England and 6 in Australia. Way higher quality cricket in the shield compared to county cricket. Players with duel citizenship can be good enough to play county cricket when they are 20 and make big coin in doing so. If they stay in Australia and try and play shield then it might take till their 24 years old till they make it, earning nothing. So they go to England for the county opportunity and money, make a name for themselves, in 3 years they have 10 first class tons and a first class average in the 40's and England knocking on the door.
Pudd
Guest
-- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Pudd
Guest
Yawn! Good luck to them. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.