Missing out on the greats?

A county chief executive has told World Cricket the English game could miss out on the next Viv Richards - after the England and Wales Cricket Board stemmed the flow of "Kolpak" players.

"Kolpaks" (named after a Slovakian handball player, who used a loophole in trade rules to avoid being counted as an overseas player in the German League) swelled the number of foreigners in the English game.

Numbers grew to such an extent, that when Leicestershire played Northamptonshire in the 2008 County Championship, no fewer than 13 overseas players took to the field.

In response to fears that homegrown talent was missing out, the ECB lobbied for new laws, which have now come into place.
Dave Brooks of Sussex CCC tells World Cricket: "The risk was that England-qualified players were missing out. Just to continue what we've always done, over time, would have opened up more opportunity for foreign players to come in."

But Sussex have been forced to terminate the contract of West Indian, Dwayne Smith, and Brooks says: "I know we're here to support the English game, but it can only thrive when world cricket is thriving, and under the new rules, Viv Richards would not have been able to turn up at Somerset in 1973, and complete his cricketing education to become the world colossus that he became."