Nannes nonsense

It ought to be fairly simple. The country you, a parent or a grandparent you were born in or are citizen/resident of you select to play for and away you go. In these modern times, many people have a number of different nations they qualify for, even in a geographically confined game such as cricket.

Dirk Nannes then. A latecomer to the game, his starring performances for his state in Australia earned him an IPL contract, but he was nowhere near the Australian squad for the World T20 and so he opted for the Netherlands, the country of his parents birth. No problem.

He did well in that competition on the back of a good IPL. Fast forward less than three months and the squad for Australia's two Twenty20 games after the Ashes is announced, including the name Dirk Nannes.

Now I'm not vilifying Nannes - far from it. Neither am I completely against the possibility of switching nationality as happens far more now then at any point in history, and cricket seems to have it's rules on switching fairly well defined, especially compared to that other love of mine, rugby league. These aren't sports like football which has a truly global spread - the only game that does really - and provides opportunities to represent your nation be you from the Solomon Islands, Uzbekistan, El Salvador or wherever. Putting in your lot with one of the lesser lights of the international scene in cricket or RL is a risky business were you unable to then go on and play for the big boys. Ed Joyce, for instance, threw his lot in with England and, despite a good start, it didn't work out. He is now serving his 7-year qualification period, just like Graeme Hick and Kevin Pietersen had to, before he goes back to Ireland. Where's Nannes's seven years? Has it suddenly become a seven-week period?

With the Indian board disrupting attempts to come up with an anti-doping plan, the expanse of Twenty20, continuing decline in Test crowds and the overworking of players a row over nationality isn't something world cricket could do with right now.