Overseas Criteria Needs To Be More Flexible

HAVING been head coach of Leicestershire for a month now, the planning for the 2018 season is well underway. One of the first things we have been looking at is getting an overseas pro in for the year, but it’s proving to be quite difficult.

- Paul Nixon

The criteria for an overseas player is very strict. The pro must have played a single Test match in the preceding year, or five in the previous five, or won a combination of 15 Twenty20 and ODI caps over the previous two years to qualify as a county import.

This inevitably means they’re at least on the radar of their country, and therefore unlikely to be available for an extended period of time. These players are all world class, and we’d love to have them on board at Grace Road. It’s also important to build for the future.

It used to be a case of being able to have young, inexperienced players come over and almost use county cricket as a finishing school. As a county, you could give them somewhere to learn a new dimension to their game, and they’d give you something you haven’t got yet.

I remember Bobby Simpson brought Damien Martyn over before the criteria was brought in, to be based with Leicestershire and play with the second team. This was before the rules changed, and the impact it had on the second XI was like no other. It was a breath of fresh air and it’s exactly what I want as a coach.