Simon Harmer, Stiaan van Zyl and Hardus Viljoen have all played for South Africa in the past 12 months but given up on their international careers for the time being by signing Kolpak deals for English counties.
The Kolpak ruling has had a lot of criticism ever since it came in but we can never stop Kolpaks. It’s European trade and we can never stop employing people from overseas, so let’s not get caught up in stopping the whole thing. The ruling actually benefits the game, so I don’t want to see it stopped.
Counties get financial penalties for having Kolpak players so bringing in these cricketers is not all win-win. You are encouraged to limit the number of Kolpak players in your team, but sometimes it’s just a needs-must.
Viljoen’s first wicket in Test cricket was that of Alastair Cook, so he obviously has talent, but it’s not a case of him turning his back on his country.
South African cricket has to get its structure right. It needs a competitive first-class system and the right balance between all formats. It needs to be made attractive to players and supporters. Obviously, there is the quota issue, too, which has driven people out, so that still needs sorting as well.
On the other side of things, the clubs can actually afford to pay some of these players a bit less. The Rand is very weak at the moment, so you get more for your pound. That doesn’t mean they all come cheap, you still have to have enough finances to persuade these players to abandon their international careers for some time. Kent wanted Viljoen but Derbyshire bettered their offer for the fast bowler.
County cricket is the best domestic cricket in the world so there’s no wonder why some players want to come over. If you are only on the periphery of playing international cricket, then playing 15 first-class matches in the summer is a great way to play the game.
Brendan Taylor said goodbye to Zimbabwe last year by signing for Notts on a Kolpak deal and you can understand why. Zimbabwe are going to pay peanuts, they don’t play that often and you don’t know how long they will even last in the cricket circle – they’re such an unstable country.
You have to think of you and your family and have to take the best option for that. There are plenty of benefits both on and off the field when moving to England.
As long as the players coming in are adding value, then there’s no issue. We had them at Leicestershire because we had no youth. We had a massive gap between the next generations coming through. We had a few senior players but still needed to fill the team.
We didn’t want to have youngsters coming in and losing every week. That would have been demoralising for them and the club.
So, the particular stance we took on it at the time was we had a plan of “five Kolpaks, then four, then three, then two, then one”. We actually ended up going five, four, three, zero. The likes of HD Ackerman, Claude Henderson and Boeta Dippenaar were mentors to our young kids. That was part of their role – being life mentors, as well as cricket mentors.
When talking about Kolpak cricket, a lot of people will remember the Leicestershire v Northants game at Grace Road in 2008 when 13 of the 22 players involved were Kolpaks. I was Leicestershire captain but felt no different going into that game than any other.
Most of these guys that were playing had played international cricket, so that’s the standard you’re getting.
County cricket should loosen off its international reins. Having these players lifts the standard and we don’t get two overseas stars anymore. There used to be one in the first team and one in the 2nd XI but that’s just not the case now.
If you’re good enough, you will get in the team and it would also help academies and 2nd XI cricket in the long run, too. It wouldn’t affect the England national team apart from helping it.
What a young James Taylor learned from batting at the other end to HD Ackerman when at Leicestershire, you simply couldn’t buy. The Kolpak lads are giving you their experience and their mindset, and that is only going to benefit you as a player.
More international players would also help the game grow in other aspects. The more well-known stars would surely see attendances grow. High-class players bring in exciting cricket, which brings in sponsorship, which brings in money. When you’ve got all that, the game just expands and expands.
We have to embrace it. The players want to come over here to boost their career, so let’s give them the option.
The Big Bash and IPL are so successful because of the worldwide stars available, imagine how well the County Championship could do with a slight change in the rules.
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, December 16 2016
Subscribe to the digital edition of The Cricket Paper here
