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04/03/2008 10:24
Arthur Turner
Globalisation has started to impact South African cricket on three fronts, namely county cricket, the Indian Cricket League and the Indian Professional League.
The English counties have released their squads for the 2008 season and there are 43 South African-born players who will be playing county cricket courtesy of a British passport or the Kolpak ruling. This represents close to 20% of the county professionals.
Cricket South Africa need to address the Kolpak ruling not legally but on practical cricketing grounds. CSA need to embrace the Kolpak situation and turn it into an asset for South African cricket and its players.
The players that sign Kolpak agreements should be properly communicated with and an agreement reached between CSA and themselves that if they are offered a national contract they will revoke their Kolpak status and be available for their country.
Not lost
There should be no limit placed on the number of Kolpak players allowed to play for each franchise team. This will lift the standard of domestic cricket and ensure that the system produces better players for South Africa.
South African players will benefit from playing on the county scene and they will earn good money but most importantly they will not be lost to South African cricket.
Having a practical arrangement in place will benefit both CSA and the players.
There is also a school of thought that legally a Kolpak agreement does not disqualify a player from being available for his country.
South Africa will continue to be fertile ground for the ICL because of this country's cricketing resources. The ICL 20-over competition in December was a success and they have now contracted their players for a further three-year period. The players are paid according to their profile ranging between $200 000 and $300 000 for 90 days work per year.
Yeoman service
The ICL restarts in March with a 50-over competition between teams like an Asian XI and World XI. The ICL intends extending its cricketing interests into Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Could their intention be to link up with the Stanford league in the West Indies and head for America?
CSA needs to leave it to the franchises, who are the employers, to decide if they wish to release their players or not for the ICL. Take Nicky Boje as an example. He has given yeoman service to the Eagles. Why should they not accommodate his request to play in the ICL for short periods of the season for decent money?
This would once again be of mutual benefit to South African cricket and the players ensuring that quality, experienced players are not lost to the ICL.
Impose their culture
The IPL to my mind is the biggest threat of the three. The IPL has not only heavily compounded an already congested international schedule, but the ICC and the member countries have given the IPL the license to use their assets, the international players, to enrich Indian cricket.
The IPL with all its so called marketing initiatives, if not controlled, will destroy the history and culture of cricket. The ICC and the member countries need to ensure that India don't annex the game and impose their culture on world cricket.
Cricket will also have to ensure that the players do not go the commercial route like tennis, for example, where they only participate in rich tournaments and are not available for their country or province.
South Africa's administrators are facing some serious challenges, they need to be visionary and brave to ensure the sustainability of the game.
Arthur is a former cricket administrator.
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