Kolpak is killing international cricket. According to CSA's chief executive Gerald Majola. The Times - Article

Interesting these comments from him on Vaughan van Jaarsveld:

We are particularly worried about the young players taking up Kolpak contracts," We have invested a lot of money in them, through the national cricket academy and in other ways. Vaughn is a case in point. We have been watching him since he was at school. We could see he had something special, Now he has indicated that he wants to try to qualify to play for England, and our investment in him is lost."

"In many ways, England is as badly affected as we are," he added. "Because of the strength of the pound, they can get a better and cheaper Kolpak player than an English player. This means that English players are having difficulty coming through the system.

"It’s time for governments, the EU and even the ICC to take action."

According to the article, "Majola confirmed that South African and English cricket authorities had recently discussed the issue in depth in an attempt to find a way around the problem".

1. Does not seem like they DID find a way around the problem. Yet.
2. I did not know Vaughn wanted to qualify to play for England...Interesting.

I had heard he wanted to qualify for us,i hope he never plays international cricket for England as i want players born here or with British parents to be picked first instead of some foreigner after a quick buck.

I couldn't care less really. I mean, if he wants to do the KP thing, you guys can have him. Like commentator/ex-player/journo Gareth Flusk wrote: "Its not the quota system, its about money..." or something to that effect. And he's right.

So, if Safricans, Aussies, Kiwis, Zimbabweans and Windies want to play for England, fine.

The cricket administrators may find a way around Kolpak, but I'm not so sure if they can find a way around the mighty pound...

He can not do the "KP thing" as he doesn't have an English mother like KP does. What KP did was perfercly within all rules and always should be. Van Jaarsveld should NEVER play for anyone other than South Africa (unless we hear he has an Aussie Mum or Dad!).

Well this is partially correct. Because of colonialism, most South Africans have English descendants. You people all say what Pietersen did was right because he turned out to be your best player. I disagree. I think it stinks to be honest. Pietersens parents emigrated to SA because at that time it was a good decision and life would be good. KP was BORN in SA and learned to play cricket here. He was coached by SA coaches and used SA academies. He then leaves SA (fair enough it is his personal decision) and ends up playing for England. What makes him so different to van Jaarsveldt. I am sure that Vaughn has english decent somewhere along the line. IMO van Jaarseldt, Trott and KP are all the same. Strauss on the other hand is a different case.

All Aussies are of England decent. Perhaps they too should play for England. Whether they are 1st generation descendants or not should make no difference. I do not want to see anyone who was taught to play here in SA play for England.

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

I do agree with much of what you say there GF. In this world where travel from one continent to another is so easy it is difficult to know where to draw the line. Is first generation descendents a good place? Maybe, maybe not.

Would KP have gone on to do for South Africa what he has thus far for England? The man himself lays much of the credit at the feet of Clive Rice. KP was batting at ten for Kwa-Zulu Natal when he played down in Durban. He was immediately moved into the top six at Trent Bridge. His maiden first-class ton was scored, for Notts, at Lord's. Why hadn't he been given those opportunities in South Africa? Unlike Van Jaarsveld, whose potential the South African coaches have recognised, KP was an unknown quantity. What probably irks South African cricket is the fact they hadn't identified this potential.

I'm afraid I could not agree less with the comment that "It is time for governments, the EU and the ICC to take action". IMO, it is time for governments, the EU and the ICC to butt out of the free market. The laws under which Kolpak contracts have come about are there for the benefit of free trade in all economic areas. Cricket is a free trade. It would be grossly unfair to those exercising their profession as cricketers to restrict their economic freedoms more tightly than those of other professions. Let the market do its work: it's for the greater good of all, and if it causes some problems for some parts of the cricketing world, the great thing is that a free market will fix it much more effectively than regulation ever can. No-one ever managed to plan an economy from the top successfully - not even Lenin, Stalin or Chairman Mao.

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Money won't buy you friends. But it gets you a better class of enemy.
Spike Milligan

"In many ways, England is as badly affected as we are," he added. "Because of the strength of the pound, they can get a better and cheaper Kolpak player than an English player. This means that English players are having difficulty coming through the system"

Well dealing purely with purely Vaughan Van Jaarsveld's signing for Warwickshire. The player he will be replacing at Edgebaston next season is not an Englishman but Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakarra thanks to the ECB's brainless decision to halve the number of overseas players. Now he may not have the class or international experience of Kumar to pass on to his teammates (or for emerging English bowlers to learn how to bowl to) but as left handed batsmen go we will certainly take this immense young talent ahead of 32 year old Mike Powell or young (talentless) Scottish batsmen Navdeep Poonia. Two players that I don't think the England management are too dissapointed that they will be plying their trade in the 2nd XI next season because of the "dreaded kolpak".

Sorry Gerald Majola but the English game in its current structure needs the kolpaks to keep the standard to a suitably competent level and unless you can convince the English cricket authorities to reduce the number of counties then nothing will change. Until that day I'm certainly not going to lose sleep about the English players in 2nd XI's around the country who are not talented enough or possess the requisite drive and determination to break into any of the 198 first team slots (that would be 2/3 times more than any other test nation) available to them.