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| For a country like Bermuda, losing a young player of Rawlins' calibre is nothing short of a disaster © ICC |
In
recent times, we have seen a good number of players from South Africa sign on
to play as Kolpak players in English county cricket, either for financial
security or due to uncertainty over their roles in the national side as a
result of South Africa's transformation policy which requires a minimum of six
colored players in a playing XI. Among those that have signed such deals in the
recent past include Kyle Abbott, Simon Harmer, Colin Ingram, Rilee Rossouw,
Dane Vilas, David Wiese, Stiaan van Zyl and Hardus Viljoen. This move has
effectively ended their international careers for South Africa, or risked a
lengthy delay between their previous international appearance and their next if
they were to have a change of heart in the future.
However, despite their losses, South
Africa remain a very powerful unit in all formats of the international game as
a result of having many talented players to pick from among those that have
chosen to stay behind and represent their country. Unfortunately, the same
cannot be said for associate nations such as Bermuda or Namibia, who only have
a handful of talented players to pick from, which makes losing such players to
another country nothing short of a disaster.
