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Overseas players in County Championship

Woodster

International Captain
Woodster, I reckon we will see more and more relationships formed now for overseas players. Chanderpaul, Klinger, Sarwan, Petersen, Smith, Patel, Williamson all are returning to the counties they were with last season.

If it is not personal relationships, it may be international. Like Bird in for Copeland and something like Elgar coming on for Petersen last season.

Personally, I would prefer South Africans to choose playing county cricket over IPL every day of the week. Play proper cricket and learn more about their games. So chuffed for Kyle Abbott that he is getting this opportunity for example.
Hopefully there will be some continuity and familiarity, perhaps even loyalty, between the overseas player and their county. Am I right in thinking that Smith signed a longer contract than is the norm for an overseas player, a three-year deal I seem to think. Alviro Petersen has certainly had a few counties, Essex, Glamorgan, and Somerset in the last few years, and Chanderpaul has certainly done the circuit. I certainly think certain signings such as Klinger, Patel, maybe Sarwan, may well have a certain bond with their counties and could see their return to the sides in the years ahead.

I think there'll always be a variety of reasons of why clubs plump for the overseas player, in terms of national familiarity with Northants opting for Bird to replace Copeland, it could be from recommendations, and John Bracewell was always a fan of the NZ imports for Gloucester for the obvious reasons. Relationships could well form between the counties and the agents/national boards/coaches, etc.

Yes, while I may be biased towards the English domestic game and the longer format of cricket, I strongly believe a season in England would prove more beneficial to a player's development than a few weeks in the IPL, even if their agent may disagree!Be interesting to see how Kyle Abbott goes, from what I have seen of him, he should certainly enjoy conditions over here. Although I did think the same of Friedel de Wet.
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
I'd have thought Cricket Australia would be desperate to get some of their younger players over to England for a season of County Cricket given Australia's complete lack of cricket between now and their home summer.
Yeah, it's just getting them the necessary qualifications to play. It would benefit guys like Nic Maddinson, Jordan Silk, Mitch Marsh and NCN immeasurably - either your really young talents or fringe players.

They'll probably have an Australia A tour or two throughout the winter, I guess.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Mitch Marsh is playing county cricket this season. Pulled out of the IPL auction to do just that. I'm not sure if he's come to terms with a particular county yet though.
 

Jarquis

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Pulled out of the IPL in order to increase his chances but there's nothing agreed as of yet
 

Dan

Hall of Fame Member
Mitch Marsh is playing county cricket this season. Pulled out of the IPL auction to do just that. I'm not sure if he's come to terms with a particular county yet though.
Yeah, that's exactly why I mentioned him. Is there a tl;dr for eligibility requirements, because I wouldn't have thought he'd meet the 'played internationals recently' bit if Copes doesn't.
 

SeamUp

International Coach
Hopefully there will be some continuity and familiarity, perhaps even loyalty, between the overseas player and their county. Am I right in thinking that Smith signed a longer contract than is the norm for an overseas player, a three-year deal I seem to think. Alviro Petersen has certainly had a few counties, Essex, Glamorgan, and Somerset in the last few years, and Chanderpaul has certainly done the circuit. I certainly think certain signings such as Klinger, Patel, maybe Sarwan, may well have a certain bond with their counties and could see their return to the sides in the years ahead.

I think there'll always be a variety of reasons of why clubs plump for the overseas player, in terms of national familiarity with Northants opting for Bird to replace Copeland, it could be from recommendations, and John Bracewell was always a fan of the NZ imports for Gloucester for the obvious reasons. Relationships could well form between the counties and the agents/national boards/coaches, etc.

Yes, while I may be biased towards the English domestic game and the longer format of cricket, I strongly believe a season in England would prove more beneficial to a player's development than a few weeks in the IPL, even if their agent may disagree!Be interesting to see how Kyle Abbott goes, from what I have seen of him, he should certainly enjoy conditions over here. Although I did think the same of Friedel de Wet.
It was a 3-year deal. That would take him to 35. Would find it interesting if he will extend it when the time comes. I have no idea if he is going to continue with his local franchise the Cobras.

I think reliability is what counties looks for now but so many things have changed. It probably seems more important to get the best 2 possible overseas players for T20 cricket now. Those players are very much in and out. Not sure if they get much a feel for the county and the dressing room like one would have playing as the proper overseas player.

Friedel Friedel ! That one good season in our domestic cricket probably got him his test cap when our stocks weren't that strong but obviously injuries played a part in his career. I see in October last year he tried to make a come back for North West after 2 years but it doesn't seem like it worked out. Friedel de Wet | South Africa Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo

I will be amazed if Abbott doesn't do well. I think a lot of hard work with Klusener has got him where he is now. Went to 'posh' private school called Kearsney and soon after school went to England and played a little bit 2nd XI cricket for Somerset if there are those who didn't know. So not his first visit to England to play cricket.
 
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paulted

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Ever noticed how great the West Indies were when all their players were in county cricket in the 80's? When fewer of their players went to England their team got worse. Same again for the Aussies (mostly their batsmen) in the past 20 years.
 

Woodster

International Captain
Mitch Marsh is playing county cricket this season. Pulled out of the IPL auction to do just that. I'm not sure if he's come to terms with a particular county yet though.
Pulled out of the IPL in order to increase his chances but there's nothing agreed as of yet
Yeah, that's exactly why I mentioned him. Is there a tl;dr for eligibility requirements, because I wouldn't have thought he'd meet the 'played internationals recently' bit if Copes doesn't.
Durham were interested in signing him but then couldn't due to the eligibility requirements that he failed to meet. With Stokes likely to be away with England for a good part of the summer an overseas all-rounder is the target, Jon Lewis said they're primarily after a bowler who is a strong lower order batsman. Fancied Corey Anderson but he's at the IPL and they want someone for the full season, also talked about Jacques Kallis but that is extremely unlikely.
 

Neil Pickup

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Shamelessly lifted from Wiki...

In 2008, the EU changed its reading of the Cotonou Agreement (the Association Agreement between the EU and the ACP countries). It now stated that the Cotonou agreement should not be interpreted as mandating free movement of labour, but rather the free trade of goods and services. The Home Office were subsequently able to introduce new rules placing restrictions on Kolpak players, stating that only those who had held a valid work permit for four years had the right to be treated the same as EU citizens.
 

brockley

International Captain
Most the kolpaks that came over before the changes are practically British now.
I think the major targets are Saffies,some former schoolboys and Aussie schoolboys.
 

Spikey

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Yeah, that's exactly why I mentioned him. Is there a tl;dr for eligibility requirements, because I wouldn't have thought he'd meet the 'played internationals recently' bit if Copes doesn't.
Going from memory:

It's basically 1 test in the last two years, or 5 tests in the last 5 years. When I heard the news Marsh was trying to sign (and Finch had signed) I thought they just had EU blood in them.
 

Biryani Pillow

U19 Vice-Captain
Ever noticed how great the West Indies were when all their players were in county cricket in the 80's? When fewer of their players went to England their team got worse. Same again for the Aussies (mostly their batsmen) in the past 20 years.
English County cricket was a finishing school for several notable West Indian players in the 1970s - and a few Australians later on.

Personally I think the standard of County cricket in respect of the Championship is better than I can ever recall in 40+ years of watching. If you rely too much on overseas stars there is a tendency for young players especially to defer to them, and this hinders their development. I've seen this is other sports too.

I have no trouble with a Club having 3 overseas players for the swish and giggle stuff and a couple for the longer over games but would want no more than one in proper cricket.
 

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