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AB de Villiers feels CSA’s T20 Global League could discontinue trend of signing Kolpak deals

When the national side played against Sussex and Northamptonshire recently in the first leg of warm-ups for South Africa’s tour of England, JP Duminy had a run-in with his former teammate Rory Kleinveldt.

AB de Villiers wants to focus on Champions Trophy and not local T20 league © Getty Images
AB de Villiers wants to focus on Champions Trophy and not local T20 league © Getty Images

After South Africa triumphed against Australia in the Test series last year, it was a bitter sweet moment as a few key players opted for Kolpak deals which shook the sport’s setup in the country. When the national side played against Sussex and Northamptonshire recently in the first leg of warm-ups for South Africa’s tour of England, JP Duminy had a run-in with his former teammate Rory Kleinveldt, who was leading Northamptonshire, before heading for three-match ODI series. Some of the other South African players were also pleased to find former teammates around. Duminy had also shared a photo with Kleinveldt and captioned it ‘career highlight’. Meanwhile,  South Africa ODIcaptain AB de Villiers feels the upcoming CSA T20 global league could lure the players to play for their country. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD, England vs South Africa – 1st ODI

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo.com, de Villiers focused on the present scenario and said, “We are not harping on too much on what we lost, rather focusing on what we have gained over the last few months. Yes, here are quite a few talented guys we have lost, which is not good for our depth at home. There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s part and parcel of what we are confronted with in recent times. We can’t stop guys from going where they want to go and playing cricket where they want to play cricket. I feel it’s something of the past.”

De Villiers also believes that the CSA T20 global league could create incentives for keeping players in the country, “The T20 tournament will make a big difference in keeping guys over there. I truly believe the systems have been put in place to make sure it’s important for the guys stay at home.”

The details of the tournament will be unveiled by the end of this month and the team owners will be revealed in a ceremony at England after ICC Champions Trophy 2017.

However, as of now de Villiers focus is on the mega event and not their local league, “It’s really important for us to focus on what we are dealing with now: a big series coming up. We have no reason not to be confident with our recent performances, beating Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. We are pretty confident.”

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