BREXIT AFTER-EFFECTS

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The Kolpak ruling has been hugely controversial, with many arguing that the influx of southern African cricketers that followed this ruling was restricting the chances of young English talent from getting a go in the county game. Others haven't seen it this way, suggesting that having these experienced and talented cricketers within the system has made the domestic game more competitive and has benefitted the national team.If the ECB decides that they agree with the assessment of Kolpak players having a detrimental impact on the game in the UK, the effects could be seismic. There have been moves in the past to make it harder to be in the UK as a Kolpak and the ECB have been at the centre of that agenda.In 2009, they successfully lobbied the UK government so that only those who have played a Test within the last two years or who have had a UK work permit for the last four years could be a Kolpak player. They have also increased the funding that counties get for playing young English qualified cricketers, which has seen the number of Kolpak players reduce from its peak in 2008.There is not a single county that doesn't have at least one important first team player that is in the country on this basis. Names like Brendan Taylor, Tino Best, Ravi Rampaul, Colin Ingram, Keaton Jennings, Richard Levi and Sean Ervine could be lost to the county game. Whether you consider this to be a good thing or a bad thing, if they do lose their position as professional cricketers, it will change the face of English cricket more than any other event in the 21st century.The ECB are far more likely to be magnanimous about those that have an EU passport than those that are here as a result of an obscure European Court ruling brought by an Eastern European handball player; the position of these players is significantly under threat.The coming weeks, months and even years as the British public and its politicians try to work out just what their vote means will be both fascinating and a bit frightening, and as the tangled ball of string that is the UK's membership of the EU is unwound, we will know more.But as and when a "Brexit" is achieved, county cricket will look very different.