Ricky Ponting

The 34 year old Australian had taken time out to consider his future following defeat in the Ashes series last month and has given the decision “much thought and careful consideration” before making a decision.  Ponting issued the following statement;

“As I said after the fifth Test in London, I am hoping to continue playing Test cricket for as long as possible and retiring from the Twenty20 format gives me the best chance of doing this. I will now have set periods of rest throughout the Australian summer and while touring, which I feel will be very beneficial.

While I will no longer be available for Australian Twenty20 cricket, I look forward to playing with Tasmania’s KFC (Twenty20) Big Bash team where possible and to fulfilling my contract with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.”

Michael Clarke, vice-captain and current stand-in during the one-day series in England, is expected to be named as Ponting’s replacement as Twenty20 skipper.

Back home though, the series could have much wider implications on the English game. In the initial touring squad, England named three players of Asian descent. Monty Panesar and Owais Shah took their places on the tour along with Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid. When Andrew Flintoff sustained his hip injury in Antigua, Ravi Bopara and the uncapped Amjad Khan were added to the squad as cover.

The emergence of Nasser Hussain, Mark Ramprakash and Ronnie Irani in the 1990s is now being followed up by a new wave of talented Asian cricketers who have pledged their allegiance to the Three Lions.

Shah, born in Karachi, Pakistan, has made five Test appearances for England, spread over a three year period. Prashant Patel, of Shah’s first club, Wycombe House, says that the Middlesex batsmen’s inclusion at international level gives great hope to minority groups.

“Within the local community I would say that the Asian population see him as a great role model as, in some circumstances, they feel that their opportunities to play at the highest level or in fact succeed in any aspect of life are limited because of their background. Owais is an example that times are changing.”

The club, based in Isleworth , hosts a vast mix of cultures, and Patel explains that cricket has become one of the best tools to promote an integrated community: “Cricket is very useful in uniting people,” he explains.

“Some of our members belong to cultures who would not interact with specific ethnic groups in their regular lives due to conflicts of religious beliefs, but when they play together on the cricket pitch and they socialise, they seem to overcome their original beliefs. The changes cricket makes can be very significant indeed.”

One of the most significant could be a potential shift in support among British Asians. In 2006, Sajid Mahmood was taunted and called a ‘traitor’ by Asian sections of the Headlingley crowd as he played for England against Pakistan, the country of his grandfather’s birth. The treatment of the Lancashire-born fast bowler highlighted the divide between English fans and British Asians, who follow the country of their family’s roots.

However, Patel says that the prominence of the likes of Shah, Panesar and Bopara in and around the England set-up could lead to a change amongst a younger generation.

“Most of the ethnic minority groups within our local boroughs would solely support their home nation,” he explains. “But we find our youth team players support either only England, or England and their ethnic home nation. Their parents are also beginning to support both teams and this is directly because of Owais’ success and the fact that he grew up locally.”

Despite the great success of previous and current Asian players on the international scene, the most significant contribution of all could be made by a player yet to be capped by his country – Yorkshire’s Rashid.

Whereas the likes of Hussain, Ramprakash and Panesar all grew up and developed their cricketing talents in the home counties, 21 year-old leg spinner Rashid was born and bred in Bradford, the scene of some of the U.K’s most notorious race riots.

Rashid’s County Championship debut in 2006 was hailed by a local Muslim MP as the player that will “put to rest” the racist issues that lingered around Yorkshire.

At a time when positives seem few and far between for the national team, this is certainly a cause for optimism, although the true impact of Shah, Panesar and Rashid may only be felt in ten or fifteen years time, when a new generation of Asians, inspired by the current crop, come to wear the Three Lions in the Test arena.