KOLPAK

Kolpak players face uncertain future in SA

by Tristan Holme • Published on

"Two Kolpak players would cost about R1.6m per year, and even the best-run franchises would struggle to afford that out of their other income," said a franchise official. © Getty

The future of Kolpak players in South African domestic cricket is among the sticking points in the new Memorandum of Understanding that is being drawn up between Cricket South Africa and the South African Cricketers' Association. The current deadlock means that the domestic season ended over the weekend with several Kolpak players leading the batting and bowling statistics, but unsure whether they have played their final game in South Africa.

Although the Kolpak issue has simmered down since coming to a strong boil last summer, when seven former South Africa players signed Kolpak contracts with English counties and two used European passports to qualify, it has not been forgotten by CSA regardless of a change in leadership at the organisation.

When Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw chose Kolpak contracts with Hampshire over the Proteas last January, then-chief executive Haroon Lorgat bemoaned the financial investment that CSA had lost. Lorgat has now moved on, but his predecessors have maintained the argument that CSA should not put money towards players who do not qualify to represent South Africa.

Cricbuzz understands that this line of thinking has come into the MoU negotiations, which continued on the sideline of the Newlands Test over the weekend. Several sources confirmed that while SACA and the franchises would like to see the continued participation of Kolpak players in the domestic game, citing their value to the system generally, CSA are not willing to contribute to their wages.

This season a maximum of two Kolpak players could be contracted by each franchise within the budget provided by CSA. However, CSA have sought to limit that further, going so far as to say that franchises should pay for Kolpak salaries out of their own pockets going forward.

One franchise official pointed out that this would be unaffordable in most cases, since franchises are heavily reliant on CSA for funding and Kolpak players are generally at the top end of the contracting scale. "Two Kolpak players would cost about R1.6m per year, and even the best-run franchises would struggle to afford that out of their other income," he said.

The biggest concern among players, their representatives and franchise officials is that cutting Kolpak players out of the game would lead to a further drop in the quality of domestic cricket.

The value of Kolpak players was best exhibited at the Warriors this season, when they shared the Momentum One-Day Cup and went into the final round of Sunfoil Series fixtures at the top of the table. Their run in the Sunfoil Series was halted by rain on the final weekend, denying them the opportunity to push for the title, but it had largely been maintained by the form of Simon Harmer and Colin Ackermann. Harmer took 47 wickets in the competition - 14 more than second-placed Senuran Muthusamy, who played two games more - while Ackermann scored 660 runs. Although Ackermann is not a Kolpak, he plays in England under a European Union passport so is not qualified to play for South Africa.

Dane Vilas had a similarly strong season for the Dolphins, scoring 734 runs at an average of 66.7, while Stiaan van Zyl only played five Sunfoil Series games for the Cobras but still scored 540 runs at an average of 90.

The other cause for concern is that as some of the more senior players in the domestic system, South African cricket would lose valuable experience that tends to be passed on to the junior members of the dressing room. While the Kolpak players are confident that SACA will prevent this from happening, many of them will leave for England this week not knowing what their future back home holds.

"It's strange for (CSA) to force players such as us to make a decision and look for security, and ever since we signed our Kolpak deals we are the black sheep of South African cricket," said one. "It doesn't really make sense, but we have to take it on the chin and find a way to move forward."

© Cricbuzz

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