Ashwell Prince (Head Coach) during the World Sports Betting Cape Cobras press conference at Newlands Cricket Ground on January 31, 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images)
Cape Cobras coach Ashwell Prince has challenged the leadership at Cricket South Africa (CSA) to stop “beating around the bush” when it comes to the continued loss of players to lucrative offers abroad and Kolpak deals.
Prince confirmed to media at Newlands on Friday that promising 25-year-old batsman David Bedingham had left the Cobras, signing a one-year deal with English county side Durham.
The deal is thought to have been rushed with Friday being “deadline day” before Brexit takes full effect.
David Bedingham in action for the Cape Town Blitz. (Photo by Carl Fourie/Gallo Images)
“For everyone that leaves, it’s about opportunity and about uncertainty. Same old, same old,” Prince said in a familiarly open, honest and refreshingly blunt press conference ahead of his side’s One Day Cup opener against the Warriors on Sunday.
Prince added that he and the franchise had “tried everything” to convince Bedingham to stay.
“My honest opinion is that he’s got a better chance of playing international cricket for South Africa if he stayed,” Prince said. “Ultimately, you don’t know what’s going on in a player’s head.
“I don’t think David Bedingham is going to struggle to get a contract at this level – franchise or county cricket. Where does he have a better chance of playing international cricket? I think that’s here.”
Prince’s view on players who leave South Africa is that it is not always a great loss to the national side.
“Not every Kolpak player is going to strengthen the Proteas,” he said.
“If they were all playing on our domestic circuit, yes it would make our domestic circuit better, but a lot of them have tasted international cricket and most of them have failed.”
Another aspect to consider, Prince says, is how many opportunities at first-class level get wasted on players who ultimately leave South Africa.
Sitting alongside their coach on Friday were Kyle Verreynne and Zubayr Hamza – two young Cobras who have now broken onto the international stage.
“As a coach you have players who can do exactly what a Stiaan van Zyl and a Dane Vilas did for the Cobras, and possibly more, so who does that opportunity go to?” Prince said.
The onus was on CSA, Prince said, to firmly tackle the issue of why South African players were leaving.
“It’s high time that CSA sits down and looks at these things a little closer and don’t beat around the bush about why people are leaving,” he said.
“Get to the crux of the matter about why people are leaving, face it and confront the brutal facts. That’s where we’re at.
“I have a good understanding about why he (Bedingham) left and I’m sure if anybody up there at CSA level had the opportunity to leave then they would understand why he is leaving. Let’s not beat around the bush when it comes to that.
“If I have to criticise CSA, maybe they think that people who can play at the highest level, you can walk around every corner and find two or three. You don’t. You can’t walk around every corner and think you’re going to find two or three people that play at the highest level.
“It’s 1% of people who play cricket that can play at the highest level. If you’re losing all of your one percenters, then what are you left with?”
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