By Glenn Pearson
Kent chairman George Kennedy insists the club won’t be put off signing Kolpak players despite new Home Office laws making it harder to sign players from overseas.
New rules released this week will see the number of Kolpak cricketers employed in county cricket plummet, as only players that have held a work permit for four years or more can continue plying their trade as an EU citizen.
One other term of the agreement that would allow a Kolpak player, traditionally from South Africa or the West Indies, to play county cricket, is if they have played a Test match in the last two years or five Tests in the last five.
The new regulations have already accounted for all-rounder Ryan McLaren at Kent. The South African has yet to play internationally, although he has since been called up to play for his country this winter since ending his Kolpak agreement.
The county will keep hold of star batsman Martin van Jaarsveld, courtesy of the fact he has been at St Lawrence for four years, but the club are yet to decide what to do with fellow South African Justin Kemp.
The 32-year-old, whose contract has now expired, played his last Test in 2005, making him ineligible to return as a Kolpak. Kent may yet consider him as an overseas player, but Kennedy told Kent News the club will be taking their time.
He said: “We are still talking to Justin about his position for next season, but we have lots of time and won’t be rushing into anything.”
While it looks increasingly difficult to bring a foreign cricketer over to play county cricket, particularly as the England and Wales Cricket Board are now financially rewarding counties that field young English players, Kent will not be put off looking abroad, in a bid to find the right player.
“I have very mixed feelings about this,” Kennedy said. “My priority is to get Kent the best team, but I also understand our commitment to England. We have to remember that the ECB fund English cricket and we get a huge sum of money from them, so it’s important we don’t bite the hand that feeds us. But I remain convinced that we should be able to put out the best team we can, so no, I wouldn’t rule out Kolpaks.”
The chairman also revealed the club were in negotiations with at least two players but remained tight lipped as to who they were.
POSTED: 01/11/2009 07:00:00
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