Cricket's Global 'Finishing School': The Migration of Overseas Cricketers into English County Cricket

Abstract

This paper introduces the controversial topic of the international movement of sport labour and explains its significance for the understanding of modern sport develop ment. Specific emphasis is placed on the impact of sport labour migration on the maintenance and development of sporting talent pipelines in both host and donor countries. The motives and objectives of the migrant athletes themselves provide a central focus. Reference is made to the historical development of cricket migration, the cases for and against and the steps taken to facilitate or restrict such movement. Player directory based quantitative analysis reveals the size and complexity of the practice, and interviews with migrant players offer insights into the athlete's experience.

Sport Labor Migration Research Revisited

“…However, I would suggest that my research, on which their typology rests, is both misrepresented in the article and is also more central than simply a starting point for their work. Furthermore, a critique of the field as it presently stands should be comprehensive and thus cite existing works, such as Lanfranchi and Taylor (2001), Pearton (2000a, 2000b), Maguire and Stead (1998), McGovern (2000, 2002, and Stead and Maguire (1998a, 1998b. As such, this article is a response to their work and the critique they offer.…”

Enabling and constraining migration: the multiscalar management of temporary, skilled, international migration of English professional cricketers

“…For example, Western Australia District Cricket Council Inc. (2018, 20) competition rules state 'a club shall not play more than one Overseas Player per team in a match' while Queensland Cricket Premier Grade Handbook (2017, 18) regulations note ' A Club is permitted to play no more than two overseas players per competition on any given day of a match' . The presence of such regulations has previously been demonstrated for cricket where the participation of overseas players in English cricket is regulated (Maguire andStead 1996, 2005;Stead and Maguire 1998). The existence of conditions such as this act to regulate the participation of overseas players in Australian club cricket both in terms of spatial and temporal regulations.…”

Temporary skilled international migration of young professional cricketers: ‘Going Down-Under’ to move-up the career path

“…Appadurai 1996). Moreover, the absence of geographers within these debates has long been recognised by leading sports scientists (Elliott and Maguire 2008), particularly within studies of migration and cricket (Maguire andStead 1996, 2005;Stead and Maguire 1998); which is central to this paper. To contribute to these debates, the following sections provide a geographic perspective of temporary international migration of young professional cricketers from England to Australia.…”

“…Australia has thus become the destination of choice for many cricketers and clubs seeking to place employees in different environments overseas, in conjunction with the networks and relationships that developed in the earlier stages of this migration and the welldeveloped and competitive nature of the cricket that is available in Australia, when compared to countries such as South Africa (Kampmark 2013). It is this perception of the need for early-career professional cricketers to experience previously unfamiliar overseas conditions, and the potential for individuals to be involved in cricket all year round that has led to Australian cricket being seen as a "Finishing School" for English professionals (Stead and Maguire 1998). This phenomena of upskilling migration is in line with talent / career development of some other elite sports such as rugby league (Evans and Stead 2014), and, in contrast, to elite sports such as athletics (Ryba et al 2015).…”