Call for Wales cricket team after England World Cup win

Cricket fan and long-time campaigner on the issue Jonathan Edwards MP pointed to the fact that Wales is now the only nation on the British Isles not to have a national team.

“The greatest honour in any sport is to play for your national team – Welsh cricket players are denied that opportunity,” he said.

“In fact, Welsh cricketers are the only people in the British Isles who are denied this opportunity.

“The Scottish and Irish national teams are well-established with full test status and yet, when it comes to Welsh cricket, it’s still a case of ‘for Wales, see England’.

“One of the most powerful tools for encouraging youth cricket in Wales would be to have a national cricket team that young people the length and breadth of the country could aspire to and find role models in.

“Over the past few years, moments of sporting magic have brought Wales together as a nation. Why not add cricket to those national moments of celebration sport creates?

“We have a Welsh rugby team, football team, basketball team, even a national lacrosse team. In cricket, however, we are still incorporated into England. That surely can’t be right.”

Following the game, former First Minister Carwyn Jones tweeted to ask whether a Wales cricket team might be on the cards.

“I wonder if we will ever see a Wales team,” he said. “Does anyone know why it is that we don’t have our own team in cricket but we do in Rugby and football and most other sports?”

Despite the calls, both Cricket Wales and Glamorgan County Cricket Club have continually supported the Eengland Cricket Board, with Glamorgan arguing for the financial benefits they accrue within the English structure.