***Official*** South African Domestic Season 2017/18

[SeamUp]

It hasn't been highlighted but Gauteng lost another talent recently in Wandile Makwetu who has chosen to go the Tuks/Northerns route.

So Ricardo Vasconcelos , Marques Ackerman, Grant Roelofsen, Keith Dudgeon, Tony de Zorzi, Mitchell van Buuren and Wandile Makwetu have all left the union in recent years for various reasons.

The issue isn't only with talented players at amateur level but also they have a history of it with more profile players ie Graeme Smith, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Dane Vilas, Quinton de Kock, Junior Dala & Chris Morris, Tabraiz Shamsi etc


In saying that I have noticed those senior players pushing for Titans spots is getting smaller and smaller. The Northerns team these days is very young from Tuks. Besides Rivaldo Moonsamy and Gregory Mahlokwana who didn't go through Tuks the rest of the main young players are Tuks. The route has worked well for Markram, de Bruyn, Klaasen, Ngidi in recent years.

The talent pool
Batsmen
Tony de Zorzi (21) Getting regular top order chances for Titans
Jiveshan Pillay (19) From KZN (left-handed batsman who has opened and batted in middle order from SA u19)
Rubin Hermann (21) (wicket-keeper batsman)
Neil Brand (22) England (schooled in England and played some 2nd XI cricket and Kruger van Wyk got him to join Tuks)
Mitchell van Buuren (20) (Middle order batsman who can bowl leg-breaks)
Thomas Kaber (26) (Most experienced player - middle order batsman and left-arm wrist-spin. Got to wonder if there are any opportunities for him.
Wandile Makwetu (19) Middle order batsman from SA u19

Ruan de Swardt (20) Young seamer all-rounder

Seamers
Corbin Bosch (24) Played a bit for Titans this season
Migael Pretorius (23) Played a bit for Titans this season
Ruben Trumpelmann (20) Left-arm seamer

 

[SeamUp]

No other cricket on the go other than 3-day provincial starting today. So will monitor today at work.

Games , teams or players of interest.

BOLAND V EASTERN PROVINCE at Paarl

DJ Hendricks , SM Khomari , FDP De Beer, DG Bedingham , W Abraham , FD Adams (c) , PV Mntungwa (wk) , KI Simmonds, NM Serame , ZC Qwabe , Z Abrahams

K Christoffels (wk), MP Breetzke (c) , MC Christensen , KR Smuts , O Nyaku , T Koekemoer , SSN Nqweni , J De Klerk , BD Walters , L Adam , L Sipamla

* no Vasconcelos after signing for Northants.


The other game will be Gauteng vs Northerns that I will be interested in but looks like rain on the highveld.

Suppose will watch North West for Janneman Malan and leggie Dyllan Matthews

 

[GRAB]

Gareth Berg another - even got to play "international" cricket for Italy!

And Colin Ackermann too? Seem to remember he is not Kolpak as such, but not sure how he qualifies?

 

[GRAB]

How does it benefit the counties for their players not to play cricket? Surely a good "off" season in South Africa is a benefit as it keeps them sharp. Or is there some farcical rule in proving you aren't really "South African"?

 

[SeamUp]

Gareth Berg another - even got to play "international" cricket for Italy!

Yeah I remember seeing that. Very odd.

Did he even play cricket in SA ?

 

[SeamUp]

How does it benefit the counties for their players not to play cricket? Surely a good "off" season in South Africa is a benefit as it keeps them sharp. Or is there some farcical rule in proving you aren't really "South African"?

Well yes, you are giving up the right to represent SA.

You probably thinking about yourself and where you get a better chance to maximise your talents/skills ?

It is a perfect situation for a smaller county like Northants who probably don't have a massive catchment area for talent and probably don't produce massive amounts of talent. Of course they do produce but with so many games over a season in England - squads need to be bigger.

 

[GRAB]

You miss the point - Ackermann, Harmer, and many others are still playing domestic SA cricket, but not say Abbott and now Vasconscelos. Is that a contract thing? Or is it the way they are qualifying that would be voided if they play in our domestic leagues. As another example, Rikki Wessels always played club cricket in PE but never represented EP or Warriors... (But he was Aus-born anyway, could just have been a preference...)

 

[SeamUp]

You miss the point - Ackermann, Harmer, and many others are still playing domestic SA cricket, but not say Abbott and now Vasconscelos. Is that a contract thing? Or is it the way they are qualifying that would be voided if they play in our domestic leagues. As another example, Rikki Wessels always played club cricket in PE but never represented EP or Warriors... (But he was Aus-born anyway, could just have been a preference...)

Oh I see what you meant now.

Yeah, I dunno. I guess how you leave or personal decisions seem to be taking a role. Maybe demand like the BPL and PSL and that 6s tournament in UAE

With Rossouw he was still contracted to the Knights. I am assuming he probably said he prefers to make more money and he struggled with injury last season ?

With Abbott. Where is he living in our summers ? What also made it complex is he left his home team Dolphins for the Warriors who he hardly played for.

I suppose with Ackermann he was already a crucial cog in the Warriors wheel where maybe Boland/Cobras feel they want to give Vasconcelos' position to someone committed to the Cobras.

I think each case is different like the couple you mentioned above.

 

[brockley]

Ackermann played many winters in Holland,think Dutch Passport,represented Dutch A a few games.He can play for the Dutch I think.

 

[GRAB]

Ingram says Ackermann still wants to play for SA, so he's probably keeping his options open?

I don't know Berg's history, so I tried Google-fu. Cricketarchive's pay-wall is thwarting my attempts, but it seems Berg played as a youngster for WP B and WP Academy but couldn't break into the main team, left for England, struggling to make county grade for another 6 or so years... Sometimes, it's not so much that it is easier in England, but it is definitely easier to survive as a "semi-pro" than in South Africa. The number of players we can pay enough to make cricket viable, when, unless you're very good, you'll be discarded by 28 or so and have to try either use your contacts to get into business or move into coaching make the decisions more complex than simply "quotas". Thomas, Petersen and Peterson all took Kolpak contracts after all.

 

[StephenZA]

Ackermann played many winters in Holland,think Dutch Passport,represented Dutch A a few games.He can play for the Dutch I think.

I think he could also end playing for Eng, he actually qualifies as a non-overseas player. But he has/had a 2 year contract starting 2016/17- 2018/19 with Leicestershire (may have been extended), and playing here and there you wonder if he is hedging his bets. If he has a genuine possibility of playing for SA in 1 year/18 months time who knows?

 

[SeamUp]

Ingram says Ackermann still wants to play for SA, so he's probably keeping his options open?

I don't know Berg's history, so I tried Google-fu. Cricketarchive's pay-wall is thwarting my attempts, but it seems Berg played as a youngster for WP B and WP Academy but couldn't break into the main team, left for England, struggling to make county grade for another 6 or so years... Sometimes, it's not so much that it is easier in England, but it is definitely easier to survive as a "semi-pro" than in South Africa. The number of players we can pay enough to make cricket viable, when, unless you're very good, you'll be discarded by 28 or so and have to try either use your contacts to get into business or move into coaching make the decisions more complex than simply "quotas". Thomas, Petersen and Peterson all took Kolpak contracts after all.

Yeah quotas probably more of a contributing factor for some of the more talented players.

Each case is different.

But no one can take away SA Cricket's export ability

Even in the WC Qualifiers :

No one in the Ireland squad these days
But Scotland we have Richie Berrington, Brad Wheal (Long time captain Preston Mommsen who retired)
Netherlands : Stephan Myburgh , Wesley Barresi, Ryan ten Doeschate, Roelof van der Merwe (Michael Rippon ?)

 

[SeamUp]

I think he could also end playing for Eng, he actually qualifies as a non-overseas player. But he has/had a 2 year contract starting 2016/17- 2018/19 with Leicestershire (may have been extended), and playing here and there you wonder if he is hedging his bets. If he has a genuine possibility of playing for SA in 1 year/18 months time who knows?

Think he even captained Leicestershire on occasion last season.

 

[SeamUp]

CPL Line-ups confirmed the other day. A few Saffers there like Amla, Miller, Shamsi, Dala , Delport, Tahir

 

[TT Boy]

Is Dala South African or a Zambian expat?

 

[SeamUp]

Is Dala South African or a Zambian expat?

Not sure on his full back ground.

But he schooled at English-speaking Springs Boys which falls under Easterns.

 

[brockley]

Overseas kolpaks its 7 years 2 qualify for England, for European and UK passports as well.Unless you are aged under 19,then its 4 years.

 

[the big bambino]

Can we really be talking about potential for a pace bowler who is already 30?

Well Stuart Clark debuted at that age and had a few good years thereafter.

 

[SeamUp]

Overseas kolpaks its 7 years 2 qualify for England, for European and UK passports as well.Unless you are aged under 19,then its 4 years.

Tom Curran did the last route. Think he was first with the new rules.

Conor McKerr was selected for 2016 SA U19 WC squad but when Surrey signed him CSA replaced him in the squad.

Think these are highest profile one's leaving before 19 for County contracts.

 

[GRAB]

That's good for Dala to get some experience. His pace makes it baffling how much of a 1-day specialist he's been though. In 18 SS matches, he has taken 22 wickets @ 70. Surely with that pace he should at least rip through tails? Maybe he can develop that side, but on the other hand, having some one-day focused speedsters can take pressure off the likes of Ngidi and Rabada.

Our reporters aren't the greatest ito of getting all the facts: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/who-is-junior-dala-south-african-cricketer/

There are quite a lot of refugees/migrants from up north in SA. Cricinfo says Kofi Apia-Adu (also Easterns/Titans) is born in SA, but with that name he must be of Ghanaian or similar heritage. I think a couple of our African players have opted to play for Uganda too (and not the most legitimately either...)