Stuart Law to play for Poms ???

[Donny]

Law moving but not keen on Poms

By Jim Morton - Fox Sports


FORMER Australian batsman Stuart Law, seeking English citizenship, won't rule out playing for the old enemy but admits his heart wouldn't be in it.

Law, 35, aims to bring the curtain down on 16 seasons with Queensland this summer and is preparing to end his career in England by applying for local residency.

After qualifying for citizenship with three years as a resident, he could be eligible to be selected for England.

There is no doubt Law is very highly regarded in England where he topped the county run-scoring list this year, amassing 1820 runs for Lancashire at the Bradmanesque average of 91.

But he denies desire to add to his sole Test appearance, for Australia in 1995 against Sri Lanka, is the reason he is permanently moving abroad.

"It's rubbish that I'm going over there to play Test cricket," Law said today.

"That's not the reason why I'm moving. If it happens that in two years time, or whatever, that I gain citizenship and I'm good enough to play against a Test side who knows?

"We might decide to go down that route but if that's the case I don't think my heart could be in it playing for them. But after two years you never know."

Married to long-time English partner Debbie, Law's application is in the hands of an immigration lawyer in England.

He has sold his Brisbane house, has a home in Manchester, where he has been based while playing for Lancashire, and plans to live there for five to 10 years.

"I will finish my career over there," the five-time Sheffield Shield-Pura Cup winning captain said.

"I can't do much more in Australian cricket. I've played for Australia, that's obviously been and gone. Queensland cricket, I think it's time for them to move on and let the young blokes come on.

"My wife's English, it keeps her close to her family.

"She's been over here with me ever since I met her and that's eight years now so it's about time I reciprocated."

A prolific first-class run-scorer in interstate and county cricket, Law played 54 one-day internationals and made an unbeaten 54 in his only Test before making way for the return of an injured Steve Waugh.

Even though England have shown a willingness to select aging players in the past, Law believes it would be almost inconceivable it would consider him at 37.

If he gains residency it will allow him to play county cricket as a local and open the door for Lancashire to recruit another import.

Law said he expected to play for as long as he remained fit.

He is currently recovering from a broken finger sustained while fielding in the Bulls' Pura cup victory over South Australia before Christmas but will be available for their ING Cup game against Western Australia on January 9.

[commonwombat]

A very fine player who would have had a distinguished intl career at other times or for most other countries. But as the man has indicated an intl career is not on the cards.

[The Prototype]

I think you'll see a few more players in Australia that can't get a game could make the move, I think Jamie Cox might want to invest into finding a home in England to play for a county side, because it looks like his days for Tassie might be coming to an end. Shame about Law, decent player, just a shame he didn't get more games with Aussie.

[DIPPER]

Stuart Law used to play for my county Essex, did bloody well for us, seems like he's more highly thought of over here than in Australia.

I don't think there's any chance of him playing for England but if he gets citizenship & then plays for Lancashire as a non foreigner opening up a place for another overseas player then it shows the whole selfish weakness of English cricket.

The counties can already play 2 overseas players , plus they play a load of foreign players with EU passports, but that's not enough for them, they now want to find other loopholes to bring in more non English players, they should be ashamed of themeselves.

Stuart Law would be a big earner but who pays his wages?Technically it may be Lancashire CC but they can only afford it because of the subsidy they get from the ECB & they make that money from reciptes from international cricket.

So the counties use the money that our Test team makes to pay the wages for (often aging) foreign players, God forbid they should invest the money in yongEnglish players & actually provide the national team with some good players.

Couldyou imagine the outcry in Australia if the same thign happened?

[Donny]

Good post, DIPPER, and welcome to Nick's Sports Bar.

I look forward to your further input.

[London Dave]

In some senses, the same thing does happen in Oz. You could argue, whats been the point of Mark Waugh playing for NSW for the last 2 seasons....he was not going to challenge for higher honours? Only reason being giving younger blokes a chance to pick up experience playing with and against him.

Regarding the Flags of Convenience flown by many players to get a gig as a England qualified' player, a few of the young South Africans (I think Strauss from Middlesex is an example) have basically turned down any chance of playing for their native country and declared they will be 'English' , a bit like Andrew Symonds in reverse.

Do the counties get value out of the imports? Hard to say, but I bet you'd get no argument from Sussex, who wouldn't have won the championship last year without Goodwin and Mushtaq, or Gloucester, who have got great value out of Harvey in the one day comps for the last few years (I see he's with Yorkshire this season). Did Warne create a bit of a buzz during his season with Hampshire?

Two imports is enough I reckon, as it usually means each side gets one pretty good bat and one pretty good bowler. I wouldn't use the phrase 'world class' to describe them, as you rarely get the odd star for a whole season. But at least young players get to play with/against top class players, something they may not do if no imports allowed.

Whats preferrable, having no imports and therefore using the money to extend the career of a solid county pro for another year or two, or having the imports and blooding 'cheaper' youngsters?

Now that replacing imports is allowed, you could get say, Murali on a 3 or 4 week contract, instead of not at all. I reckon this is a good move, as it still allows the top class test cricketers to at least play some county cricket
In some ways, the strength of the pound should be a boon to the English game, making competition for places all that harder with foreigners coming in. If you can get a decent test side out of 153 qualified players (17x9), you wont out of 187 (17x11)!