ECB Succeeds In Rule Change On Foreign Players

The England and Wales Cricket Board have succeeded in lobbying the Home Office to alter the laws to limit the eligibility of foreign players able to play in county cricket.

Under the new regulations, only players who have held a valid work permit for four years will be able to continue to be employed as though they were EU citizens by counties.

That is unless they have played one Test match in the past two years or five Test matches in the past five.

The ECB has lobbied hard through government channels, to prevent players – usually from South Africa – freely occupying county places it believes should go to English-qualified players.

Having been frustrated by the reluctance of counties to impose any natural restriction on the foreign imports, the ECB realised early last summer it would have to seek a change in the law to stem the flow.

The so-called ‘Kolpak’ players, already heavily down last season, are set to plummet further from their peak in 2008.

That summer, the situation reached a head when 11 players took the field in a Northants v Leicestershire match who had exploited the legal loophole established by Slovakian Maros Kolpak.

A European Court of Justice ruling in 2003 went in favour of the handball player, who was seeking work in Germany.

Kolpak’s legal action allowed players from countries and regions with associate trade agreements with the European Union – such as South Africa and the West Indies – to be treated as non-overseas players.

A significant percentage of the annual ECB handout to counties is now supplied on a per capita basis for England-qualified players in each squad.