Thanks to England, cricket pundits from around the world have adopted an interesting hobby these days – spotting players who are born in one country and playing cricket elsewhere. While this shouldn’t really matter in the gentleman’s game, the word ‘adopt’ itself has become a buzzword, especially in the last couple of decades during which England has almost always had at least one foreign-born player in its side.
Cricketing tales are abound with players who played for two countries; men like Kepler Wessels, Nawab of Pataudi Sr., Gul Mohammad and Billy Murdoch are a few noted names amongst many. While that is a well-known list, there aren’t many in cricketing folklores that talk about cricketers who played for one team but were born in another country.
So, we thought, why not make a team out of all those players who were born in one country and played cricket elsewhere. Mind you, since we tried our best to pick players to fit into an XI, it was heart-breaking to leave some good players – Robin Singh, Robin Smith, Nasser Hussain, Salim Durani, Douglas Jardine, Mike Brearley, Matt Prior, Imran Tahir et al – to make way for players needed to complete the XI in crucial positions.
Interestingly, most of these players were quality batsman, a surprising find, making our job of picking bowlers for the team a little trickier than usual. But, we tried. You could always offer your two cents as cricket has never been short of surprising names and pop-ups.
Colin Cowdrey
A Baron, Colin Cowdrey, was a legend, becoming the first cricketer to play 100 Tests. It shows the special talent of a man, when peers say his 7624 runs at an average of 44 with 22 centuries and 38 half-centuries didn’t quite do justice to his talent. With a similar average, Cowdrey, who was born in Bangalore, India, scored close to 43000 First-Class Test runs.
He is one of the several English greats who were born in India and went on to play cricket for their ancestral country, England. To Cowdrey’s credit, he also has 107 first-class tons to go with a whopping 231 half-centuries.
Hanif Mohammad
Called the Little Master, Hanif Mohammad was probably the man responsible for making cricket popular in Pakistan. Known for playing the longest Test innings ever, against West Indies, Hanif Mohammad, the proud achiever of 499, the highest first-class score back then, played 55 Tests for Pakistan and scored 3915 runs at 43.98 with 12 centuries and 15 half-centuries.
He was born in Gujarat, India before the Independence of Indian sub-continent. Hanif was also known for ambidexterity with bowling and wicket-keeping talents.
Kevin Pietersen
A man born for the big stage, Kevin Pietersen could have been England’s greatest international Test batsman had he let his bat do more talking than his mouth. But, the flamboyant player’s career was cut short despite great performances with the bat.
Nevertheless, the South African-born player represented England in 104 Tests scoring 8181 runs at 47.28 with 23 centuries. His chutzpah allowed England to post some historical wins in unchartered territories like Australia and India making him one of England’s greatest anyway, if not the greatest.
George Headley
Headley, born in Panama represented West Indies in 22 Tests scoring 2190 runs at 60.3 with 10 centuries. He was known as The Black Bradman for his unstoppable run-getting appetite that witnessed him score a whopping 9921 runs in just 103 first class matches at an astounding average of 69.86.
He had 33 centuries to go with 44 half-centuries in just 164 innings.
Andrew Strauss
One of the Renaissance Men of English cricket, Strauss like Pietersen was a South African import. Yet, he went on to play and captain England with aplomb in both the longer and shorter formats of the game. Strauss, who formed a very fruitful opening partnership with Alastair Cook who was almost his superintendent of sorts and heir-apparent, scored 7037 runs in 100 Tests at 40.91 with 21 centuries.
He also played 127 ODIs for England scoring 4205 runs. Lately, Strauss, who was part of phenomenal teams that defeated India and Australia to go to the top of the ICC table, has been given a top position in ECB, and he repaid the faith by overseeing England’s surge in the shorter formats of the game.
KS Ranjitsinhji
A great trendsetter and trailblazer, the man whose name inspired India’s most prestigious domestic tournament, played for England, a rare case for an Indian-born. The innovator of the late cut and the glance, Ranjitsinhji’s international career was disrupted by his personal responsibilities back home.
However, in 15 Tests he showed his mettle with 989 runs at 44.95 with 2 centuries. His first-class career was much more distinguished as he scored 24692 runs in 307 Tests at 56.37 with 72 centuries. He also represented Sussex in first-class cricket.
Andy Flower
Andy Flower was born in South Africa and became Zimbabwe’s greatest cricket player. He was so good, he would have definitely made it even to the far more competitive South African team although he would have grown up in the Apartheid era.
The man who took England to dizzying heights as a coach, played 63 Tests scoring 4794 runs at 51.54 with 12 centuries. For almost the entire length of his career, the wicket-keeper batsman played for a weak side and still managed a high calibre batting average, amongst the highest for a wicket-keeper. He also distinguished himself in 213 ODIs scoring 6786 runs at 35.34.
Ben Stokes
Although Ben Stokes is yet to fulfil his potential and is still young at 25, we can go on a hunch and pick him in this team. He was born in Canterbury, New Zealand and what a loss he is for his home country.
Stokes is fast turning out to be one of the best contemporary all-rounders having scored 1395 runs in 24 Tests at 33.21 but with a stunning strike-rate of 71 and a highest score of 258. He also has 58 Test wickets to go along with his pyrotechnics in ODIs making him a man to watch out for in the future.
Tony Greig
One of England’s most celebrated skippers and a legendary commentator, Tony Greig was cricket’s classical overachiever. The feisty man, despite obvious inadequacies in talent, went on to play 58 Tests for England, in which he scored 3599 runs at 40.43 and picked 141 wickets at 32.2 including ten wickets in a match twice.
Remembered for his renegade move to Kerry Packer’s World Cricket, Greig oozed confidence and was a fine contributor without being orthodox with the bat or rapid with the ball. He was born in Cape Province, South Africa, a country that had given England many a cricketer including a few on this list and a few who just missed out of the list.
Sir Gubby Allen
Sir Gubby Allen bowled right-arm fast. Born in Australia, he played for arch-rivals England. In 25 Tests, he scored 750 runs at 24.19 but picked up, more importantly, 81 wickets at 29.
He also played 265 first-class matches, where he picked 788 wickets at 22.23 and scored 9233 at 28.67. That makes him an exceptional lower-order batsman who could bowl at genuine pace. That gives him a coveted spot in this team that is short of genuine quicks.
Clarrie Grimmett
The Australian leg-break bowler who nudged out Imran Tahir from this list was born in New Zealand. Grimmett played 37 Tests but picked up a whopping 216 wickets at an impressive average of 24.21 with 21 5-wicket hauls, a massive number in such a short time period.
To put things into perspective, Muttiah Muralitharan had one 5-wicket haul every two Tests and that in itself is considerably phenomenal. He has 1424 wickets in first-class cricket at 22.28 with 33 10-wickets-in-a-match and 127 5-wicket hauls.
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