Matthew Engel’s article is a powerful and comprehensive analysis of both the context and circumstances leading to Duanne Olivier sacrificing his South Africa career and joining Yorkshire as a “Kolpak” player (Sport, 1 April). But his conclusion that Yorkshire are to blame is wrong. As he points out, there are 43 current Kolpak county players in England. It is the International Cricket Council (ICC) who have stood by and let an unregulated market develop, failing to make any legal challenge to the Kolpak ruling, or introduce new regulations – with tacit support from the ECB? At an international level, it is also the ICC’s inequitable distribution of funding, dominated by Australia, England and India – in terms of rewards and control – that reinforces divisions between richer and poorer nations resulting in senior players “migrating” – sacrificing national identity for individual rewards in white-ball cricket. Also, the ECB could do far more to discourage Kolpak and international players through further restricting numbers and greatly increasing financial incentives to recruit “home grown” players, especially from the local leagues.
Mike Stein
Pudsey, West Yorkshire
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