The receding Afro-Caribbean cricket contingent
There has been an alarming decline in the number of Afro-Caribbean cricketers in the English set-up, since the era when the likes of Devon Malcolm brought an edge to the national side
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
There has been an alarming decline in the number of Afro-Caribbean cricketers in the English set-up, since the era when the likes of Devon Malcolm brought an edge to the national side. The Daily Telegraph's Scyld Berry traces the recession to the ending of funding of Haringey Cricket College - the nursery of Afro-Caribbean talent in England - and terms its reactivation an important initiative.
English county cricket is well organised and well-coached – and perhaps too much so. No sign on the horizon of an unorthodox 'crackerjack’ bowler who can surprise opponents, like Lasith Malinga or Muttiah Muralitharan: and if Afro-Caribbean cricket dies, another source of England’s potential supply is eliminated.
Devon Malcolm, with his express pace, had this unorthodox quality. Afro-Caribbeans, like him, have taken almost 600 Test wickets for England and scored almost 8,000 Test runs. A fine XI could be made from those who represented England and England A: Michael Carberry, Wilf Slack, Mark Butcher, Roland Butcher, Mark Alleyne, Paul Weekes, Keith Piper, Chris Lewis, Phillip DeFreitas, Dean Headley, and Malcolm himself.
Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo