Nathan Waller back?

zimfan1 wrote:http://www.cricx.com/index.php?option=c ... 0&Itemid=3

Waller is currently in Australia training with the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy alongside playing Grade cricket with the Adelaide Buffalos. It’s envisaged he may return to Zimbabwe to play domestic cricket as an overseas player in 2014, before heading back to Ireland and push towards national inclusion.

OK, thanks.

zimfan1 wrote:

Real shame that he has turned his back on Zimbabwe as he was seen as a big hope for the future, strange to see that he cant get near the irish side though, perhaps we may of overrated his ability.

His figures aren't great in NCU club cricket (were surprisingly poor actually given his figures in Zimbabwe), but he played as overseas pro in our Inter-provincial 3-day competition (3 teams playing 4 games each) and did much better (10th best bowling average of 21.4 and 13th in batting with 25.0). I have heard though he spent a lot of time in England trying out for a County or 2, and perhaps didn't take his club duties too seriously (that's hearsay though, I don't know if true).

Not world-beating stuff, but (a) he's still pretty young, and (b) he'd be less used to Irish conditions at this stage. Although I'd wonder if his disparaging comments re Ireland players will do him much good. I'd have thought he'd have been in the mix for our "A" tour to Sri Lanka last month, but suspect he'll be made jump through a few more hoops now if he wants to be considered.

zimfan1 wrote:
His comments are not wrong though, at the moment Zimbabwe have more youngsters playing the game and it's healthy at school level compared to Ireland,

Whether they were or they weren't they were still stupid, particularly when there's a lot of people who don't think he should be considered!

zimfan1 wrote:
I expect Ireland to overtake within the next 10 years after Taylor and co reach the end of the careers buts it's set up for Zimbabwe and Ireland to have a healthy rivalry in the future which would be fantastic for both sides with hopefully a number of 3 match test series.

Absolutely, I'd love to see a series in each of our respective Summers - maybe even Development XIs guesting in respective domestic tournaments...probably a way to go until that is possible, but there are possibilities if the resources were made available.

zimfan1 wrote: I am surprised to see Ireland go the foreign import route particularly with their criticism of England poaching Rankin and Morgan and thought they would focus on Irish based players who have come through their system......

It's subject to some debate here, but in fairness CI aren't approaching anyone as far as I know, and even Tim Murtagh had to jump several hoops to be even considered. The last year or so has seen young Irish developed bowlers breaking into the team (McCarter, Young, Richardson & McBrine) My own view is that if someone is an Irish citizen, says he wants to play for us (and no-one else) and to some extent says he feels Irish he should be considered, especially if he shows some commitment to Ireland - I think of Trent Johnston who is married to an Irish woman and has kids here as a great example. I've to be convinced that Waller is in this category.

Also, the point can be made that if one of our hands are being tied behind our back (by losing Morgan, Rankin, Joyce etc on a 'next day' basis) we shouldn't tie the other by declining Irish citizens who want to play for us. Our XI in the ICUP final had 8 Irish born and bred players, with 3 others who live in Ireland with Irish partners...Given the profile of the Irish population that would be more Irish than the general population.

But I do agree that first option should be Irish developed players, and in fairness to CI, that's generally the case, and a lot of fast-ish young bowlers are being fast tracked (3 were sent to Oz for their Summer), which suggests that they're not looking to him (yet, at least)