This week, Jonathan Trott celebrated his Englishness to emphasise no mixed feelings as he prepared to face the team representing the nation of his birth. I wouldn't doubt his devotion to the cause for one moment, nor that of any of the other South African-born cricketers about to line up for England in the forthcoming Test series.
Many people, including myself, have often written about England's reliance on players who have left South Africa for various reasons to qualify for the team. Some migrated as children, others for the explicit opportunity to further their careers which had apparently stalled in the southern hemisphere. The current batch are by no means unique, and I reckon they and their predecessors would make quite a useful one-day - but maybe not a Test - fantasy team. See what you think...
To open, Andrew Strauss (home town: Jo'burg) is an automatic choice. Solid Test opener and, whilst no longer selected for ODIs, he has a reasonable record in the shorter format. That World Cup 158 against India will live long in the memory. A few years ago, Craig Kieswetter was catapulted into the England team after impressing as a teenage 'keeper-batsman for Somerset. His star may have waned since then but the 2010 vintage Craig should join his fellow Transvaal-er at the top of the order.
Next comes Jonathan Trott, from Cape Town. It seems strange to think he's only been an England international for three years yet according to the ICC and his statistics, Trott is one of the finest one-day batsmen in the world. Often derided for his slow scoring, he at least gets runs on a consistent basis, at an average close to 50! Pietermaritzburger Kevin Pietersen is more of a cricketing mercenary but he served his apprenticeship in the county game before exploding onto the Test scene in the 2005 Ashes series. He's been pretty hot in ODIs and T20, too, and is an obvious choice for my team.
The Eleven is a bit batsman-heavy but at least they will frustrate bowlers all the way down the order. Twenty-odd years ago, Robin Smith was ranked two in the world. He and brother Chris fro Durban scored plenty of runs for Hampshire before qualifying for England. Robin proved the more successful, playing 62 Tests and 71 ODIs. A pugnacious cutter of the ball, he passed 50 on 19 ODI occasions, including four centuries,led by a memorable 167 not out against the Aussies at Edgbaston in 1993. Another squat moustachioed Saffer, Allan Lamb, was a middle-order mainstay of England in the 1980s. Brought from Western Province by Northants at the height of the apartheid-fuelled boycott, he played for his adopted country by dint of his English parents. Lamby often shone in a mediocre team up against first the awesome West Indians and then the emerging Aussie greats, even if he wasn't quite as good as he liked to think!
I'm going back to the 1960s/ early '70s for my first all-rounder: the late Basil D'Oliveira. Leaving his homeland because the racist regime denied him the chance to pursue his profession, he later famously became the unwitting catalyst for the global boycott of South African sport. While 'Dolly' came too soon for a proper one-day international career, he did play in the first ever ODI in January 1971 at the age of 39. Primarily a batsman, his medium-pacers also claimed more than 550 first-class and almost 200 List A wickets.
Tony Greig has always enjoyed a spot of controversy, be it his infamous 'grovel' speech to wind up the 1976 West Indian tourists, his recruitment role for WSC a few years later whilst England captain, or excitable commentaries after retirement. As player, he was a very fine all-rounder who could bowl medium-pace seamers and spin. Just as well, because I can't find any Saffer-born pure spinners in my team!
It's back to the present day for the final three. Despite the presence of Kieswetter, I'll pick Matt Prior for wicketkeeper. He represented England at all junior and senior levels, played for Sussex and eventually established himself as first-choice man behind the stumps and sledger-in-chief. He contributes useful quick runs and in T20 there are few players with a superior strike rate of 146. I'm really struggling for qualifying bowlers but the current Surrey duo of Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker could provide some incisive pace. Their lack of batting skill is more than compensated by their ability with the ball and their fantasy team-mates' batting depth.
I may well have missed out somebody but I reckon this eleven each plucked from their international heydays could be more than a match for any ODI team England have fielded in the past thirty-odd years, born and bred at the other end of the globe!
Strauss (*), Kieswetter, Trott, Pietersen, R Smith, Lamb, D'Oliveira, Greig, Prior (+), Dernbach, Meaker. Give us a few more years and I could probably do the same with the Irish!
