South Africa’s Duanne Olivier is the latest cricketer to take the Kolpak route. (Source: AP)West Indies captain Jason Holder has pushed forward the idea to implement minimum wages for players in international cricket to stop them from signing lucrative Kolpak or other T20 franchise deals. Holder’s comments came after South Africa fast bowler Duanne Olivier signed a three-year Kolpak contract with Yorkshire, effectively ending his international cricketer.
Speaking to reporters, Holder said that he has been in touch with international bodies trying to seek a solution to the problem. “It’s really sad to see another quality player lost to Kolpak cricket. Until something is properly done to keep players a little bit more grounded financially I don’t know how much longer you can continue putting up the front. People still want to see international cricket being at the forefront,” the allrounder said.
“I just think, going forward, we need to find a way to keep players playing for their country so we can have an attractive product. Probably the ICC and FICA need to get together and institute a substantial minimum salary so that players will feel comfortable coming home to represent their country,” he added.
Holder went on to add that Test cricket still has the spark left in it, but players need to be properly compensated so that they are encouraged to play the longer format.
“Test cricket is something that has picked up in the last year and a half. West Indies beat England; Sri Lanka beat South Africa: these are significant things. These can continue to spark Test cricket. There’s so much prestige behind it and so much work behind it. I can only hope we can find some common ground where players are properly compensated and encouraged to play Test cricket as opposed to running off to domestic leagues,” the 27-year-old said.
The Windies player expressed hopes that the international bodies will be able to settle for a middle ground in the near future. “Personally I have had a few conversations with people at FICA, they are doing a hell of a job trying to get a level playing field for everyone. I don’t know if we’ll get there as soon as we like but hopefully in the not too distant future we can find common ground where players are playing for their countries and also have time to play in domestic leagues,” he said.
