"It reminds me of Kyle Abbott,"reacts Faf du Plessis on the current Duanne Olivier Kolpak deal
What's the Story?
South African skipper Faf du Plessis reacted with disappointment on the most recent Kolpak deal of Duanne Olivier and isn't happy at all to lose one of the key Proteas fast bowler. The captain also remembered the similar incident that took place at the time of Kyle Abbott two years back. He told all of this while he was talking to Sport24.
The Background
Cricket South Africa is also worried as many of its top players have left playing for the national side by signing the famous 'Kolpak Deal' to play County Cricket in England. This time it was their young fast bowler Olivier who joined that list as he signed a three-year deal for Yorkshire.
"Duanne has put himself at such a place where he is one of the three top seamers in our team. But once again, it’s the time that disappoints me the most as it reminds me of Kyle Abbott which took place two-three years back,” said the skipper.
The Heart of the Story
Olivier was the top performer with the ball for South Africa in the current season where he emerged as the leading wicket-taker against Pakistan in the three-match series where he picked up 24 scalps at an average of 14.70. He did not stop there as went on to pick seven wickets in the two matches that he played against Sri Lanka. In his overall career of ten games, he picked up 48 wickets with the best figures of 6/37.
The skipper continued to say, “I care for all players when it comes to earning a spot in the team but you want them to run with it for a while and get the best out of themselves from an international point of view as well. It has become a case of just playing a couple of Test matches and then out of that."
Similar Instances
Apart from Duanne Olivier and Kyle Abbott, there are many other top players like Rilee Russouw (2017), Merchant de Lange (2017), Richard Levi (2015), Alviro Peterson (2015), Colin Ingram (2014), Ashwell Prince in 2013 and many more who have signed this deal. All this started in 2004 when Claude Henderson became the first South African player to sign this deal for Leicestershire.