Oral Answers to Questions Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Leader of the House

Oral Answers to Questions

Jonathan Edwards Excerpts
Thursday 28th April 2011

(13 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Jonathan Edwards Portrait Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (PC)
- Hansard - -

There is significant support among players and supporters in Wales for the creation of a Welsh national cricket team to compete in the one-day world cup and the Twenty20 world cup. A Welsh national team competed in the 1979 International Cricket Council trophy, so there is a precedent for this. Will the Minister raise this matter with the England and Wales Cricket Board to see whether this ambition can be achieved without endangering Glamorgan’s first-class status or the SWALEC stadium’s status as a test venue?

Hugh Robertson Portrait Hugh Robertson
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

The answer to that lay in the question. We have an England and Wales Cricket Board, and it would also be extraordinarily difficult to do that without endangering Glamorgan’s first-class status or the ability of the ground to compete for test matches. Traditionally, for many years, Welsh players have competed for England, although there are none at the moment. I imagine that Robert Croft was the last one to do so, and I hope that there will be many more in the future. Hugh Morris, the director of cricket at the ECB, was a Glamorgan player.