Vernon Philander’s Kolpak deal at Somerset cancelled


Somerset have announced that Vernon Philander‘s contract with the club has been cancelled by mutual consent.

Philander, who played his last Test match for South Africa against England in January after announcing his retirement from international cricket, had signed a two-year take care of the county on a Kolpak registration.

All existing Kolpak registrations will be cancelled on December 31 this year, but the PCA has lobbied the ECB to increase the number of abroad players permitted in the County Championship and One-Day Cup from one to two, meaning Philander would have been ready to stay on as an abroad player.

All professional cricket in England and Wales has been suspended until July 1 at the earliest because of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Like the majority of counties, Somerset have furloughed their players and the majority of their non-playing staff.

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Somerset did not commit to re-signing Philander for 2021 in a press release, but Andy Rush, the club’s director of cricket, left the opportunity open.

“These are clearly very uncertain and challenging times for all counties with no cricket until no less than July 1 and the likelihood of a condensed and truncated season,” Rush said. “It used to be such an exciting prospect to visualise Vernon returning to the Cooper Associates County Ground, but provided the current uncertainty the cancellation of his contract used to be a prudent and sensible decision. I want to thank Vernon and his management team for their understanding of the present situation and we are hoping in the future to see Vernon back wearing Somerset colours”.

Philander is the first non-overseas player to have his deal cancelled, following quite a few announcements from counties confirming that their international signings would not be joining them as deliberate. Several other non-overseas players aren’t currently in the United Kingdom, including Mark Cosgrove, David Wiese and Stiaan van Zyl, while three coaches – Dave Houghton (Derbyshire), Michael di Venuto (Surrey) and Jason Gillespie (Sussex) – are at home with their families in other countries.


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