Should players in Cricket World Cup be allowed....?

Question

... to represent for than one nation, or once they have represented one, only represent them?
For example, Ed Joyce for England has played for Ireland (despite them only being an associate member of ICC), Anderson Cummins played for Windies in '92 World Cup but will probably represent Cananda against Kenya tomorrow and Kepler Wessels played for Australia and then South Africa in World Cups after South Africa were re-admitted to international sport after apartheid.
And there is also talk of Ryan Ten Doeschate walking out on the associate Dutch to represent South Africa, if they come knocking.

I respect, in the Cricket World, that ODI are not taken as seriously as Test matches, but if the Cricket World Cup is to continue to grow, surely rules must be installed to stop multi-representation from happening, otherwise cricket will become a laughing stock.

Answer 1

i agree, if you've played for england surely you cant suddenly become south african or whatever.. and you should want to play for the country of birth anyway.

Answer 2

You can't just walk out of one team and into another, there are rules.

You can choose to play for any of the following:

1) Your Mother's birth nation
2) Your father's birth nation
3) your place of birth/registered nationality.

For example, Andy Symonds plays for Australia, was born in the West Indies (I think) and his mother is English.

However, once you play for one of these countries, you must STOP playing for that country (if it is a test nation) for four years, time which must be spent playing in the country you wish to switch to. Again this country must fit one of the above requirements. Edmund Joyce and Kevin Pietersen both had to complete a four-year residency period in the UK before being allowed to play.