(Photo: Getty Images)
By Joshua Peck
IT’S served them well so far this year, and now Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove has said he would have no issues signing more Kolpaks.
Hampshire, tipped for relegation from Division One this season by many following last year’s reprieve, have lost just two of their nine matches this season and are well in the race for the County Championship title.
That rise up the table to third has been in no small part due to the signing of Kolpak players Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw, with Abbott already claiming 40 wickets this season.
That puts him second on the highest wicket-takers list with only fellow South African and Kolpak player Simon Harmer taking more scalps, having claimed 47 wickets for current leaders Essex.
But with the system working for Hampshire, chairman Bransgrove sees no reason to change their strategy.
He said: “We’ve developed a side which has a combination of mature players and home-grown players. There’s a financial implication to having more than two Kolpak players.
“The primary consideration must be to get the right balance in the squad to develop young players and win things.
“You can either plunder other counties or you can take them from another country through the Kolpak route. But you do have to have role models in the team for younger, more up-and-coming players to help them grow into the types of players that (Liam) Dawson and (James) Vince are becoming.
“I wouldn’t have any hesitation about whether he’s a Kolpak player or whether he’s an English player. I think it’s totally irrelevant. What we have to consider is the financial impact of playing too many Kolpaks in one team.”
Abbott and Rossouw won’t just spend one summer at the Ageas Bowl before returning to South Africa either. Having turned their back on international cricket they will stay on the south coast for four and three years respectively. It comes at a time when their home country is struggling in the international arena with South Africa comprehensively beaten by England in the first Test and there seems to be a lack of considerable talent coming through the ranks.
Of course, this of little concern to Hampshire though it is understood the ECB are keen to limit the Kolpak players coming over to these shores in an attempt to not see a similar situation that has happened with the Proteas affect the England side.
Counties already receive cash incentives for fielding up to nine English-qualified players, though they get more for up to three under 26 players (£1,200 per match for each player) and more still if they are under 22 (£2,000 per player, per match).
The recent influx of Kolpaks may see the ECB increase these incentives, but that won’t stop every county.
David Leatherdale, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, said earlier this summer: “It is hugely disappointing that some counties have felt the need to sign players as Kolpaks or on EU passports instead of developing and producing homegrown players themselves for the future benefit of English cricket.
“We are concerned that the number appears to have risen again in recent months. It is a situation that gives us cause for concern and one that we will continue to monitor.”
And with Rabada suspended from the second Test at Trent Bridge for disciplinary reasons, how South Africa must be cursing the decisions of Rossouw, Harmer and particularly Abbott.
Tony Irish, chief executive of the South African Players’ Association, said: “We have 11 Kolpak players and that is the highest number we have had for a few years. “The concern here is when it happens to current Proteas players like Abbott and Rossouw.
“As a players’ association we believe players need the opportunity to play wherever they are able to do so but we have to balance that with the interests of international cricket.”
