Five cricketers who went on to represent different country from U-19 to International team

 

Every cricketer wants to earn money and have a better career apart from living their passion in this sport. In most of the cases the journey begins from representing the junior side and by earning a place in the senior team.

However some players unable to maintain their consistency in junior team and lose their spot in the senior team which force them to try out different option to fuel their senior career.

Let's have a look at five cricketers who went on to represent a different country after playing for their birth country at the U-19 level.
 

 

Mohammad Imran Tahir is a Pakistani-born South African cricketer. He is playing for South Africa national team since 2011 and has been one of the greatest right arm leg spin bowler for Cricket South Africa who dominant the world of cricket by his googlies and made his name in history books of South Africa.  

Imran Tahir is the spinner with the most wickets in the ICC World Cup for South Africa, with 39 wickets. He is the first South African bowler to take seven wickets in an ODI, reached 100 ODI wickets in 58 matches, the quickest for any South African player and the fastest and first spinner to take over 100 wickets in ODIs for South Africa. Also Imran Tahir is the first South African and fourth overall to take four wickets in an innings in all three ICC events (World Cup, Champions Trophy and World T20).

Tahir was born in Lahore, Pakistan where he learned  the leg-spin bowling and played in Under-19 for his birth country. He also represented Pakistan not only in the Under-19 level ODI format in 1998 he had also played in the Pakistan A team. He picked 15 wickets in 16 matches for his U-19 team with a four-wicket haul.

 

2. Colin de Grandhomme:

Colin de Grandhomme is a Zimbabwean-born-New Zealand cricketer. He started his career with marvelous figures of 6/41, the best for a New Zealand debutant.

De Grandhomme became more than a handy all rounder for New Zealand than his birth country Zimbabwe.

He not only represented for Zimbabwe at the U-19 level but also played for them in the 2004 Uneder-19 World Cup in Bangladesh. He played six games and scored 94 runs at an average of 23.5 with a top score of 41 against the Sri Lankan U-19 team.

He shifted to New Zealand in 2006 and played for Auckland Aces in the state championship after which he made his way into the New Zealand national team. Since making his debut for the NZ senior team, the 33-year-old has played in 24 Tests, 41 ODIs and 36 T20Is for his side.

 

3. Gary Ballance

Gary Simon Ballance is an Zimbabwean-born-British cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman, who currently plays for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England national team.

Gary Ballance played for the Zimbabwean U-19 cricket team in 2006 Under-19 World Cup where he played in five matches and scored 137 runs at an average of 27.40.

 

Ballance has played 23 Test matches and 16 ODIs for England.

 

4. Grant Elliot

Grant David Elliott is a former New Zealand cricketer. But the all rounder hasn't been regular into the team. His amazing knock of 84 runs against South Africa in the semifinal of the 2015 World Cup has been the most impactful innings he has played for NZ.

However, before playing for New Zealand, he had played for the South African Under-19 team in junior World Cup that was hosted by South Africa. He has scored 130 runs in his six games, personal best was 45 against Sri Lanka U-19.

In August 2018, Grant Elliott announced his retirement from all format of cricket.

 

Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott is a South African-born former professional cricketer who played international cricket for the England cricket team.

He had a fruitful run with the England cricket team in both Test and ODI formats. With 13 International centuries. He was ICC and ECB Cricketer of the Year in 2011.

Trott was born in Cape Town to a South African family of English descent. He played for South Africa at both under-15 and under-19 level. During the U-19 World Cup in Australia, he scored 156 runs in six games at an average of 39.