Black and Asian cricketers in the England team
Posted on August 5, 2020 by Robert Henderson

There has been an upsurge in politically correct complaining about the lack of black and Asian England players.

Below are the Test averages of black and Asian players who have played Test cricket for England since 1980.

Before 1980 the only Asian players who turned out for England were Ranjitsinhji, Duleepsinhji, the elder Nawab of Patuadi and Ramon Subba Row. I exclude them because they played in time of the British Empire and Imperial feeling.

Only one black player turned out for England before the 1980s . He was Basil D’Oliveira. I have excluded him because his situation was unique amongst black cricketers wanting to play for England.

The mediocrity is very obvious. That is why there are not any black players in the England side and precious few in county cricket.

Turning to the statistics for the black and Asian players since 1980 what is readily apparent is the overwhelming evidence of mediocrity.

Only one batsman batsman managed an average of 40 (Haseeb Hameeed from only 3 Tests) and only two Nasser Hussain and Mark Butcher scored a thousand runs with an average of 34 or better .

Things were no brighter on the bowling front with only one player (Dean Headley ) managing an average better than 33 for players taking 50 wickets or more .

The reason for there being few black and Asian cricketers playing for county cricket or for England today is simple, mediocrity.

Robert Henderson

Black Players (14)

Batting

Matches Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50

Neil Williams 1 1 0 38 38 38. – –

Mark Butcher 71 131 7 4288 173* 34.58 8 23

M Carberry 6 12 0 345 60 28.75 – 1

C Lewis 32 51 3 1105 117 23.02 1 4

C G Small 17 24 7 263 59 15.47 – 1

P DeFreita s 44 68 5 934 88 14.82 – 4

Roland Butcher 3 5 0 71 32 14.20 – –

Wilf Slack 3 6 0 81 52 13.50 – 1

David Lawrence 5 6 0 60 34 10.00 – –

Jofra Archer 8 14 0 120 30 8.57 – –

D Headley 15 26 4 186 31 8.45 – – –

N Cowans 19 29 7 175 36 7.95 – –

D Malolm 40 58 19 236 29 6.05 – –

J Benjamin 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 – –

Bowling

Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts Ave 5w 10wm

J Benjamin 1 2 168 80 4 20.00 – –

D Headley 15 23 3026 1671 60 27.85 1 –

Jofra Archer 8 15 1878 928 33 28.12 3 –

P DeFreitas 44 76 9838 4700 140 33.57 2 –

G S Small 17 31 3927 1871 55 34.01 4 –

M Butcher 71 30 901 541 15 36.06 –
D Malcolm 40 72 8480 4748 128 37.09 5 2

D Lawrence 5 10 1089 676 18 37.55 – –

C Lewis 32 55 6852 3490 93 37.52 3 –

N Cowans 19 36 3452 2003 51 39.27 2 –

Neil Williams 1 1 246 148 2 74.00 – –

–

Asian players (17)

Batting

Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50

Haseeb Hameeed 3 6 1 219 82 43.80 – 2

Nasser Hussain 96 171 16 5764 207 37.18 14 33

Ravi Bopara 13 19 1 575 143 31.94 3 –

Moeen Ali 60 104 8 2782 155* 28.97 5 14

M Ramprakash 52 92 6 2350 154 27.32 2 12

Owais Shah 6 10 0 269 88 26.90 – 2

Min Patel 2 2 0 45 27 22.50 – –

Adil Rashid 19 33 5 540 61 19.28 – 2

Ronnie Irani 3 5 0 86 41 17.20 – –

Usman Afzaal 3 6 1 83 54 16.60 – 1

Zafar Ansari 3 5 0 49 32 9.80 – –

Aftab Habib 2 3 0 26 19 8.66 –

Sajid Mahmood 8 11 1 81 34 8.10 – –

Ajmal Shahzad 1 1 0 5 5 5.00

Kabir Ali 1 2 0 10 9 5.00 – –

Monty Panesar 50 68 23 220 26 4.88 – –

Amjad Khan 1 – – – – – –

Bowling

Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts Ave 5w 10

Ajmal Shahzad 1 2 102 63 4 15.75 – –

Kabir Al i 1 2 216 136 5 27.20

Monty Panesar 50 85 12475 5797 167 34 71 12 2-

Moeen Ali 60 105 10972 6624 181 36.59 5 1

Sajid Mahmood 8 14 1130 762 20 38.10 – –

Adil Rashid 19 34 3816 2390 60 39.83 2 –

Usman Afzaal 3 1 54 49 1 49.00 – –

Zafar Ansai 3 5 408 275 5 55.00

M Rampracash 52 25 895 477 4 119.25 – –

Amjad Khan 1 2 174 122 1 122. .00

Min Patel 2 4 276 180 1 180.00 – –

Ravi Bopara 13 10 434 290 1 290.00 – –

Oais Shah 6 2 30 31 0

Nasser Hussain 96 1 30 15 0