South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, on Tuesday (October 22), said South African cricket can tremendously benefit by the Brexit, as the Kolpak facility has severely weakened their roots after his team’s whitewash in the Freedom Series in India.

At the moment, Kolpak signings and cricketers with EU passports are eligible to play in England as a local player, but the no-deal Brexit could end the English county future of the “Kolpak” cricketers after Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

The United Kingdom will be departing from the EU on October 31 without an agreement, which means no new Kolpak registrations would be possible while the existing deals would likely finish at the end of the 2020 season and Du Plessis was hopeful that the Brexit will stop the Kolpak players.

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The so-called Kolpak contract could not allow the players to play for their home countries, but if Britain departs from the EU, the Kolpak system would end by 2021.

Du Plessis told reporters in Ranchi, “It's sad for South African cricket not to have the option of their best players. Simon Harmer has had an unbelievable season. And it would be great for South Africa to be in a position where they could go (for tours).”

He continued, “He's done well overseas. Let's bring him on tour with us. So maybe, post-Brexit, guys will still go and play there (in England), but you can still pick them for your country. Brexit will be the one thing that will stop the Kolpak players.

So that could benefit South African cricket tremendous amounts... I don't know if they will find a loophole around it by saying 'we will have another overseas player' that will be allowed to play in county cricket which still means the guys will go and play there; it will just be under a different name.”

He signed off by saying, “The opportunities are there for people in the domestic circuit in England... a lot of South African players are down there at the moment. From a financial point of view, the pound is stronger than the rand so that will be a concern for us. At the moment, we are not only losing our experience in international cricket but in domestic cricket as well... your top players domestically are going overseas... the guys who don't get picked for the national team are going overseas, so obviously the talent pool has got smaller; it's proving very difficult to stop.”

(With AFP Inputs)