Michael Vaughan has been getting it in the neck for wishing that Jonathan Trott, England’s Ashes-winning hero who was born and raised in South Africa, “was a bit more English” - and on the face of it his complaint does look like another example of English cricket’s “little Englander” mentality.

As long as he plays for England, Trott is sure to endure the sniffiness from critics that was previously directed at the likes of Andrew Caddick, Graeme Hick and Geraint Jones, all born in foreign parts. Not quite one of us, you know. It is not something that is much of an issue when the player concerned is performing well but when things go wrong, just watch how fast knives are drawn.

This is slightly absurd in an age where movement around the globe is so easy and commonplace. Sport has long reflected this multi- culturalism and it would be strange if this diversity was outlawed by effectively tying people to the places of their birth. Does anyone wish that Andy Flower, England’s coach who played his international cricket for Zimbabwe, was “a bit more English”?

And yet there do have to be rules regarding qualification for a “second” country and it seems to The Edge that cricket is too lax in the ones it has drawn up. The problem with cricket is that when it comes to qualification it seems it is never too late to change your mind. You just have to live in a second country – and wait. You’ll be naturalised, and eligible, in the end.

In this respect, football sets a far better example. Before 2003, when Fifa overhauled its regulations, a player was deemed to have made his choice of country once he had played internationally at youth level. After that he could not switch allegiance to another territory, however long he might live there.

However, following complaints that young players of dual nationality were being coerced into making a decision about which country to play for before they were mature enough to know what they were doing, Fifa reviewed the situation. Since 2003, young footballers have been allowed – in principal at any rate – to switch countries at any time up to the age of 21 (which is the age at which football youth internationals stop rather than at 19 as is the case in cricket).

However there are important provisos – namely that the footballer must already possess dual nationality at the time he made his first appearance in a youth international, and that he cannot switch if he had already played for someone at full international level.

This is very different from what happens in cricket – and very different from what Trott was allowed to do by the members boards of the International Cricket Council (who should shoulder the blame for the situation rather than the player himself, incidentally).

Trott represented South Africa both at under-15 level, touring England with them in 1996, and at under-19 level, at which he played three “Test” matches in Pakistan alongside Graeme Smith. It was not until he was 21 that Trott followed his parents to England – where his father was born and now intended to work. Trott moved because he had decided that English cricket would better further his development than cricket in South Africa. But if the football system was adopted, he would not have been allowed to switch because by the time he had qualified for England through residence he was in his mid-twenties.

A similar case looms with Craig Kieswetter, the young Somerset batsman- wicketkeeper who has just been added to England’s Performance squad.

Just three years ago, Kieswetter was keeping wicket for South Africa at the Under-19 World Cup – Wayne Parnell, a likely opponent of England this winter was among the attack – and yet by serving four years of residential qualification, a term that ends in February next year when he will be 22, he can wipe his involvement with South Africa from the record.

Trott and Kieswetter are rare cases. In fact, the only other person playing county cricket today who has appeared in under-19 matches for another country is Hampshire’s Michael Lumb, who represented South Africa’s youth team in 1997. In earlier times, Alan Mullally, Craig White and Jason Gallian all represented Australia Under-19s before going on to represent England in full internationals.