Morne Morkel has spoken in favor of retired Duanne Olivier. The young pace sensation shocked the world when he decided to bid adieu to international cricket in order to sign a Kolpak deal with Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
Morkel said that the timing of the decision was not right but Olivier took a family decision and everyone should respect his call.
“It’s just unfortunate because Duanne had really settled in and is finding his feet … he knows what Test cricket is about. In terms of timing, it’s not great. (But) I think that decision was made long before a couple of months ago. He weighed his options up and it was a family decision and you have to respect that,” Cricket.com.au quoted Morkel, as saying.
“It’s never nice to lose quality players, you always want to see them play for South Africa. But I understand it completely and I wish him all the best,” he added.
Morkel wants Cricket South Africa to come up with a better plan to give career security to players.
“They have to sit down and come up with plans because they’re going to lose a lot of players in the near future and they need to protect against that. Do you structure the contracting a little bit better? What security do you give the guys (in terms of) life after cricket? You talk about investing, but once a guy retires, they sort of drift away. I can name a number of players who they have invested a lot of money in, but you don’t see them coaching, you don’t see them involved with our academies,” he said.
“Give those guys a platform and say; ‘we’ve invested in you for so many years when you’re thinking of settling down or moving on, this is where we see a role for you,” he added.