posted May 14, 2008

its like any sport the clubs start to use more and more of the foreghn players who are of a better quality than mos t home grown players, especially at the smaller counties! it is really taking advantage of the Kolpak rule, that will need some kind of revision, so there can be a max number of foreghn players that can aapear in one match, probs about 3!

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posted May 14, 2008

Do the ECB ever wonder to themselves when sitting in their boardrooms sipping tea and biscuits just why SA and Aus are number 1 in the respective ODI and Test logs?

How can SA with it's apparently racist quota system which is forcing "good" players to leave it's shores be the top ODI team at the moment? How can it always produce youngsters who perform at national level? How come Aus is forever getting new players who perform on debut at international level? hmmm?

Perhaps because their domestic leagues only see the rare foreign player here and there? Hmm? Maybe? Perhaps the kids in those countries are forced/ encouraged to take part in 1 or 2 extramural activities each season at school? Perhaps their kids play outside more often?

Me thinks it's more a societal issue. In Aus, NZ, SA (all countries with smaller populations than the UK mind you) the kids run around more often, schools (and peers at school) frown on kids who don't participate. SA has the largest junior cricket programme in the world with over 100 000 children below 11 years taking part each year, Ntini, Pollock, Boucher played in it at one stage.

Although not the richest the countries down south must be doing something right. The best cricket, rugby, netball and hockey players? All social sports. Hint hint ECB, nudge nudge.

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posted May 14, 2008

I personally believe the fact we have this influx is we have too many counties playing first class cricket and not enough good home grown talent. We should regionalise cricket to be succesful and have 5-6 top quality regions playing high quality cricket

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posted May 14, 2008

It is very good for the game tho i prefer the 2 'official' overseas player rule which was better and brought more excitement in county cricket.

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posted May 14, 2008

Morkel, HD Ackerman, Johannes van der Wath, Boeta Dippenaar etc .......substandard? You must be having a Giraffe!! Most cricket afficionados will know that these are very talented cricketers and would probably all be in the Protea squad on a regular basis if it were not for the quota system. In fact I'm pretty sure at least three of the aforementioned have gained exposure at international level for SA. I'm English and I've heard quite a substantial amount about these fellows, so I'm not quite sure where you've been hibernating!!

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posted May 14, 2008

The Kolpak players do not cost more. In fact it is my understanding that you can get 3 Kolpak players for the price of 1 English country pro. So the money counties save is more than offset against the money they lose from the ECB. The quality is pretty much the same, and with the situation in South Africa there are lots more players looking to come across for the summer and then go back and play for SA in our winter.

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posted May 14, 2008

"And no one ever watching IPL?? yes- KP and the likes have no clue about whats happening at IPL - and oh yes - ECB also does not care abt it!! - give me a break!!"

Not many ppl may be watching IPL in Eng, but certainly Eng players and ECB are watching it with keen interest.

Eng players are making statements abt how they wud like to part of IPL becoz of intl players involved and also due to huge money(main factor).

ECB watching as it does not want to loose its own players and overseas players from counties and also to make money from T20(EPL).

Coming to Kolpak, from wat i can see on this artcile, most guys suggest that prob is with Eng Cricket setup in Schools and Junior level and thats why not much talent in Counties, which leads to overseas players.

If your team is losing i guess no wud come to stadiums and watch them on TV.

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posted May 14, 2008

Nice to see a few more takers for the view I've held for years- that pretending you can run 18 fully professional county sides on the income that English cricket actually generates is an absurdity which ends up distorting competition.

There is a problem, though. Even if common sense prevailed and one moved to a system of, say, six fully professional regional sides with the counties reverting to mix of pros, semi-pros and even amateurs that they had in the years before the 1960's, how could one stop the regions stuffing their rosters with Kolpack players without ending up in front of the European court? Make their entire team rosters centrally contracted (with contrats given to one or two genuinely world class overseas players per squad as well)? But I don't think there would be money for that either......

It's ironic that a judgement given in connection with a sport which barely figures on the radar screen of most cricket enthusiasts should have such an impact on a sport which few handball enthusiasts will know the first thing about! Are any other sports (in the UK or elsewhere in Europe) so obviously affected? Rugby is a possibility but I don't recall seeing any direct reference to Kolpak signings in connection with that sport for all the arguments that sometimes erupt about the number of SA/NZ/Aus/Argentine/Pacific islands payers in the profession Northern Hemisphere game

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posted May 14, 2008

As a Northants fan, i totally agree with Guiness2702's comments.
The smaller 'unfashionable' counties are unable to keep their young talent. For years the England selectors overlooked talent from the lesser counties, so these players are attracted to the Elite band of clubs that are favoured for England selection.
Northants produced plenty of talent over the years that diserved international recognition. Sales, Fordham, Loye etc.
So, to compete and attract the crowds they have gone down a route that football has quite happily done so for years.
Just be greatful cricket's not full of Polish !!
It's a reflection of Britain today. Live with it !

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posted Oct 27, 2009

The SA players are just wasting their talent as county cricket is not nearly as competitive as domestic cricket in SA.

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