Kieswetter joins a growing list: DOES IT strike anyone else that it is kind of strange there is barely a murmur about the number of "foreigners" who find themselves playing for the English cricket team?
Of course, we know only too well about Ed Joyce and Eoin Morgan – two of our own – swapping the shamrock for the rose but it is not just Irishmen who are beating the path to Lords.
It seems as if the trend of England annexing South Africans for their own means will claim another conquest in time for the World Cup Twenty20, with Craig Kieswetter set to follow in the footsteps of Johannesburg-born England captain Andrew Strauss, leading batsman Kevin Pietersen and former star Alan Lamb among others.
Kieswetter was born and raised in South Africa but qualifies for England under the four-year residency rule and was only five days over that qualifying entitlement before he was picked to play for his new country in a match with a Bangladesh selection . . . talk about not letting the paint dry on a seat!
Worrying implications for sport
OF ALL the sit up and take notice stories of the past week, I must admit the one that caused a sharp intake of breath was the one from this newspaper’s science editor, Dick Ahlstrom, concerning the possible long-term effects on people experiencing mild concussion.
In case you missed it, a neurosurgeon addressing the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego warned that concussion can cause significant effects, citing research which discovered many American football players suffered “long-term cognitive impairment, akin to that seen in a boxer, without ever experiencing a head injury”.
The professor even threw in the line suggesting an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease for anyone who suffered concussion.
Of course, there are possible implications for anyone who plays sport and suffers a bout of concussion.
Physical contact – be it in rugby, Gaelic football, hurling, soccer or boxing for that matter – is part and parcel of virtually every sport.
Thing is, not everyone knows most governing bodies of sports here have a suggested stand-down time for anyone suffering concussion during which they don’t train or play.
