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New South Wales selection bias is a claimed bias of selectors of theAustralian cricket teams towards players fromNew South Wales. It was alluded to in a quote by formerSouth Australian captainDavid Hookes who said that, "when they give out the baggy blue cap in New South Wales, they give you abaggy green one in a brown paper bag as well to save making two presentations".[1] Hookes' comment came at a time when, especially during the 1980s, there was public speculation that strong performances by non-NSW players were often ignored by the Australian selectors in favour of seemingly under-performing NSW players who were selected for the Test and/or One-Day team.
Allegations of this bias have been made by a number of past and present players, includingVictoria'sBrad Hodge, who claimed that his non-selection in the Australian side was due in part to the bias.[2]
Statistics have been misused to deny[3][4] and clearly support the bias.[5] Deniers of the bias highlight the few New South Wales players who have suffered at the hands of selectors, and ignore the underperforming NSW players who have been given a paved road to national selection.[6][7]
Out of the list of the top 50 run-scorers in theSheffield Shield, the nine players who did not play a single Test came from every state except New South Wales andWestern Australia.[8] Out of the list of the top 50 wicket takers, the eight players who did not play a single Test came from every state except New South Wales.[9]
