ECB Wins Kolpak Cutback
English cricket will experience a massive sea change after ‘Kolpak’ players were dealt a blow by landmark new Home Office laws.
More England-qualified players will again play county cricket, instead of imported talent, who previously qualified as non-overseas players through EU citizenship.
Only players who have held a valid work permit for four years will now qualify as EU citizens, as opposed to overseas players.
That is unless they have represented another country in a Test match in the previous two years, or played five Test matches in the past five years, like Yorkshire’s Jacques Rudolph (pictured).
The extra stipulation should help guarantee ex-Test players remain on the circuit to maintain quality in the short-term.
This new ruling is a massive coup for the England and Wales Cricket Board, who lobbied for change through Government channels.
The ECB wished to prevent players, mostly from South Africa, representing counties in place of England-qualified cricketers. Their hand was forced to seek a change in the law, when counties refused to regulate their own use of imported talent.
The issue peaked in 2008, where a fixture between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire witnessed 11 players, who could not represent England, playing as non-overseas players.
A large percentage of the ECB annual handout to counties is now paid on a per capita basis, for the number of England-qualified players in each squad. This led to a dramatic decrease in Kolpak players’ numbers this season, which will plummet still further next year.
Kolpak players are so-called after a European Court of Justice ruling in 2003 allowed a Slovakian handball player to play as a non-overseas player in Germany.
Precedent established by the Maros Kolpak case allowed people from countries with associate trade agreements with EU states, like South Africa and West Indies, to be treated as non-overseas players.
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