The great crusade: Team GB invades the promised land

International baseball has been the order of the month for the GB teams. The seniors are currently taking part in the European Championship Qualifiers in Tel Aviv – our Irish neighbours are slogging it out in Barcelona – while the GB Juniors and Cadets have recently returned from duty in Florida, at the USSSA Gold Medal Games.

While the kids’ squads used the experience as a good learning curve, the seniors are looking for glory and, having racked up three wins at the time of writing, are looking confident of progressing to the Championships in Holland next year.

As I alluded to before, the successes of team GB’s extensive scouting policy has helped locate players in Europe and at Universities across North America who have British heritage, and it’s paying dividends. As an avid follower of the British leagues, I notice fewer than five of the team that ply their trade here in the UK.

Questions have always been raised about selection policy, but if the team that’s playing is the best of all the players in the world that can qualify, it’s hard to argue against it. Owen Hargreaves became a fixture in the England football team under Sven Goran Eriksson and no one really know of him until he was selected, while Dan Parks (Scotland) and about 10 of the Italian rugby team have highly dubious links to the nation they represent professionally.

It’s a debate that will rage throughout time and no one will change it. Unless the leagues improve substantially here in the UK, with investment from external sources and the recruitment of players who are here to play baseball rather than contribute to the economy and spend summer Sundays on the diamonds.

The same issue doesn’t affect the kids so much – many of them are playing at a relatively high standard of baseball in the British leagues while leading their youth programmes to the top of the divisions at their age groups.

That does, however, mean some teams have had to postpone fixtures due to the international schedule, with the Windsor & Bracknell Blazers/Bears and Southern Nationals in particular being hard hit.

Most teams are back to action this week, with the Blazers and Nationals looking to move up in their leagues in the NBL. The Nationals travel to the league-leading Lakenheath Diamondbacks, with second place available to them if they sweep the D’backs in Pool B, while the Blazers can regain third in Pool A with an unlikely sweep of the Southampton Mustangs, who themselves can go top with two wins.

The Windsor & Bracknell Bears face 2010 AAA Champions the Oxford Kings, where a split or better for the Bears – however unlikely – would derail the Kings’ hopes of retaining the crown. The Menwith Hill Patriots have formally retired from the league, so AAA North becomes a shootout for second place between the Manchester As and Halton Jaguars, the Liverpool Trojans all-but guaranteed to win the division.

The Sidewinders and Thames Valley Bisons meet in AA South, with the victor taking second place, while the Poole Piranhas will likely keep within touching distance of the two should they beat the Richmond Dragons. The MK Bucks and Birmingham Maple Leafs will likely both pick up victories against the Leicester Blue Sox teams in AA Midlands, keeping it a three-way race for the playoffs.

And last but not least, the London Marauders face a big task to return to winning ways as they play host to the Cambridge Royals (10-0) at Finsbury Park. Unless they win, they’ll only be a game ahead of the Guildford Mavericks II, Guildford having two games in hand.