England age-group games ‘not be-all and end-all’

THE performance of the England U17s in the World Cup in India last weekend has not only shone the spotlight on the country’s next generation of footballers but also thrown up the perennial question of whether they will ever be handed a chance by the club sides in the highest profile league in the sport.

It’s a question that English cricket would do well to ask itself, too.

This winter, Joe Root will lead an England side in the Ashes that contains a good few graduates from the age group system put in place by the ECB. They include James Vince and Jake Ball, who played in the same U19 side as the Yorkshireman.

The route from age group cricket to county set-up and, ultimately, to the full England side, though, remains fraught with difficulties, particularly given many counties’ readiness to bring in Kolpak players.

Haseeb Hameed and Mason Crane are the two standout examples of what can happen if players are given an opportunity at an early age.

Hameed’s break came in India just a year after he had been left out of the England U19 squad for the 2016 World Cup in Bangladesh. Crane, meanwhile, has shot from relative obscurity to an Ashes tour.

Joe Weatherley captained both at U19 level and admits it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture when playing for England at youth level.

“At the time you feel not that it’s the be-all and end-all but that it’s awesome you’re representing England at a World Cup,” he tells The Cricket Paper. “But actually, although it’s a great time in your life in terms of the memories you take, it’s not really that important.

“Yes, you can say, ‘I captained England U19s’, but it counts for nothing in county cricket, which is ultimately where you’re judged when it comes to the England set-up.

“Getting into an England side when you’re a kid is just as appealing, if not more appealing, than getting into a county’s academy system or maybe even getting a pro contract. But you can just as easily have not done it and still do what I’m trying to do now, which is break into the Hampshire first team.”

Weatherley’s first-class career is still in its infancy, with the batsman having played just ten matches.

Others he played with at U17 and U19 level have dropped off the county radar completely with the vintage of Root, Vince, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Ball remaining something of a golden crop.

The question now is whether future generations will be given the same opportunity.