South Africa’s cricket fortunes are on an upward curve on the pitch, but off it there is a lurking danger that threatens to bring the game in the country to its knees if solutions are not found quickly.
Wins in their last three Test series, home to New Zealand and Sri Lanka, and away in Australia, have brought a feel-good factor back to the side under the stewardship of captain Faf du Plessis. And with a high-profile trip to England in mid-2017 and delicious incoming tours next summer by India and Australia, there is much to look forward to.
But all is not well in South African cricket and it comes down to one word – Kolpak.
A flood of exits
What started as a trickle has become a stream, and threatens now to be a flood as South African cricketers in their prime are lured out of the international arena and into lucrative county contracts in England.
The Kolpak ruling, so called after Slovak handball player Maroš Kolpak, was made in 2003 and states that people from nations that have an Association Agreement with the European Union – South Africa being one – have the same employment rights as EU citizens and therefore restrictions on their right to work, such as those which limit the number of overseas players in English county cricket, are in violation of EU law.
Current Test bowler Kyle Abbott stunned the country when he announced after the second Test against Sri Lanka in Cape Town in January that he was quitting the side to take up a contract with Hampshire.
Despite having signed the contract five months prior, he had hoped to keep the news quiet so as to prolong his international career until the start of the English county season later in the year.
But once the story was unveiled by the media, he was forced to come clean and was immediately dropped from the side despite being a frontline bowler.
Rilee Rossouw, regarded by South Africa coach Russell Domingo as being on par with AB de Villiers in terms of his effectiveness in limited overs cricket, announced at the same time that he was joining Hampshire as well.
Rossouw is a mainstay of the country’s One-Day International and Twenty20 International squads and was also next in the pecking order for a top-six place in the Test side, but ultimately the lure of the British pound was too strong.
The dreaded ‘Kolpak’
South African players have been taking up Kolpak contracts for over a decade, but usually at the ends of their careers when international cricket was no longer an option.
But now there is a perfect storm of circumstances brewing that have seen a number of current international stars rush to the county circuit for what they say is a chance to secure their family’s financial future, but is also the fear of growing limited opportunities in South African cricket.
Simon Harmer, Stiaan van Zyl, David Wiese, Rory Kleinveldt, Colin Ingram, Richard Levi and Hardus Viljoen, who have all played international cricket in the recent past and would be considered still as potentials for the national side, have also signed Kolpak contracts in recent months.
The reasons for this rush, and every instance may be slightly different, are three-fold.
The weakness of the South African rand, especially against the British pound, means players can earn substantially more on Kolpak contracts than they would at home. South Africa’s unstable political climate means there is likely to be even more volatility in the currency in the future, widening that gap even further
The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU in the next few years, commonly known as Brexit, has increased the urgency for players as the Kolpak ruling, which underpins these contracts will no longer apply and so the window for them to play county cricket will close unless they are selected as one of the allowed overseas players for the four-day championship.
The elephant in the room: Racial quotas
Thirdly, the racial quotas introduced into South African cricket have stifled opportunities for white cricketers to showcase their skills and potentially earn a national team contract.
South African provincial sides must field six players of colour, three of who must be so-called “black African”, leaving many white players to ponder their future.
Recently introduced quotas at national team level, which stipulate that the Proteas must field six players of colour, two of who are “black African”, on average through the season, has also left some white players to believe that playing for South Africa just got a whole lot harder.
The situation is being treated as a crisis and Cricket South Africa are set to announce a number of measures to try and stem the flow.
“We invest huge sums of money in every individual, and if you take Rilee by way of an example, I don’t know how many months we have been treating his injuries and investing in him,” CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat told reporters. “Sadly, there’s no return for us in the years to come. Instead of crying over spilt milk, we will invest in young South Africans who avail themselves to play for the Proteas.”
“I’ve just come out of a cricket committee meeting, and one of the things we dealt with which will go onwards to the board for consideration, was the number of Kolpak players we will entertain in the South African domestic system,” added Lorgat. “We cannot have places that are being used up by professionals that will not avail themselves to the Proteas.”
“We need to keep those spots open for those South Africans who want to play for the Proteas. There will be a recommendation going through to the board for them to affirm. I understand the ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board] is challenged by a similar thing. There is, of course, a restraint of trade provisions that one has to consider, but that’s something they will need to consider.”
How many other South African cricketers of international standard, perhaps even more members of the current set-up, throw their lot in with a Kolpak deal in the coming months remains to be seen. The real battle is for CSA to keep South African cricket attractive to these players so they do not fall into temptation. But how they do that in an age of racial quotas and a weakening national currency remains to be seen.
Nick Said is a freelance writer based in Cape Town who has spent the last 20 years covering African sports for, among others, Thomson Reuters, SuperSport, AllAfrica.com and Kwese Sports. He tweets @nicksaid.
For all the latest sports news, read The Sports Wrap.