A separate Wales cricket team?

With such good prospects I expect the Welsh team to actually do very well internationally and can easily challenge the likes of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Ireland or Scotland. A Wales team can also open the door’s for a Euro Cup in which England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands can take part.

However a separate Welsh team would not come without challenges. Firstly, it puts the risk of losing funding as ECB would not be sharing about $2million of annual funding it gives to its counties. Secondly, the Swalec stadium would also take a blow, as it will lose lucrative matches like Ashes, and England international matches (Being one of the 3 stadiums for Champions trophy). Thirdly, it would mean Glamorgan moving out of county championship as it happened with Scotland after they left England Team. Finally, Wales would have to form it’s own domestic structure and like Ireland would have risk of it’s players moving to England for better prospects.

A move for a separate Wales team would be supported by the Government – some funding is expected. Besides the regular ICC funding Wales would be easily available for TAPP funding. Some private funding is also expected and rivalry in the British Isles against Ireland and Scotland can definitely get some level of sponsorship.

Finally, to have a quality set up is a challenge faced by all the European teams like Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands is quite similar. Some teams, to start with, have formed a first class tournament. Ireland has already started a 3 team First Class tournament and so did Scotland with a 2 team tournament. Netherlands has been having a annual North V South matches. The key would be, as is the case with Rugby, the 4 nations can come together and form a 10 Team first class tournament (3 Teams each From Wales and Ireland & 2 Teams each From Scotland and Netherlands). This can in provide a quality domestic cricket for teams and also source of income for the home boards.

In the current circumstances, I expect Wales team would be formed soon. Hopefully, it is formed before the 2015 World Cup so that it can be in the process to reach the 2019 World Cup and gain ODI status for the future. The team would face many challenges but I am sure that same would have been the case in other sports. Let’s hope to see the rise of more good teams in cricket soon.