ECB holding crisis talks over threat of foreign influx

HD Ackerman: 'It's very hard not to be tempted' © Getty Images Enlarge

Talks are to be held today between the ECB and the players' union over the threat of foreign players dominating the domestic game next season.

It has emerged that a list of 80 overseas players who are eligible for county cricket under the Kolpak judgment is being circulated around the counties by a sports-management company, Athletes 1.

The Kolpak judgment, which has been in force since 2003, allows anyone with a work permit from a country with an associate trading agreement with the European Union to have the same rights as a European worker. At least 20 South African players are on the list, as they have been tempted by the prospect of high salaries in England. Seventeen of these players are white, and it is thought that some of them are disillusioned by the quota system.

The list, which includes Test players such as Vasbert Drakes, Cameron Cuffy and Nixon McLean, poses a threat to the initiative recently launched by the ECB to limit the number of foreign players representing counties. From next year, cash incentives will be offered to counties to limit the number of overseas players.

"It's a major issue," Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA), told The Guardian. "I am aware of significant numbers of players who want to play county cricket as Kolpaks, and we are meeting with the ECB today to put forward some proposals. It is a problem in the game that is massive."

One of the South Africans, HD Ackerman, admitted he was in negotations with Leicestershire. "It's very hard not to be tempted by the salaries in county cricket," he told The Guardian. "The hard reality is that a county salary is probably well over twice the value of a provincial salary, and in South Africa that amount is paid over 12 months, not six like in England."