The former South African cricketer Vernon Philander has taken legal action against Cricket South Africa (CSA) for a contract dispute that occurred between the two during Philander’s playing days. Recently, opening up on the grievance he had to face during the last stages of his international career, he added that he had been deprived of his rights; the upgraded contracts.
Philander was one of the finest pacers of his time. He gathered 224 wickets in 64 Tests at an average of 22.3. South Africa’s great has 13 5-wicket hauls to his name. He announced retirement at the end of 2020 after the Proteas home series versus England. He is the second-fastest bowler to 50 test wickets. The all-rounder collected 50 Test scalps in only seven matches. Once conditions are favouring for him, it would not be wrong to say that he is the most dangerous bowler to face. Undoubtedly, his consistency was unique to his name in the red-ball format.
While revealing the conversations with CSA, Philander stated that due to threatening Kolpak deal with a team in the County Championship in 2018, the board decided to upgrade his contract in order to make him play for the country. The cricketer added he was happy with the deal which was the reason for not leaving the national side earlier than he did.
By the time Philander was offered the deal to stay connected with CSA for national duties, many of his fellows already had quit their tasks to join several Counties. Morne Morkel joined Surrey, Wayne Parnell joined Worcestershire, Kyle Abbott signed a deal with Hampshire, whereas, Marchant De Lange penned out his contract with Glamorgan.
Vernon Philander’s statements:
The retired cricketer continued the board paid the new amount for only a year and later on showed reluctance citing irrelevant reasons for downgrading the contract for the forthcoming year. He said the board fulfilled the commitments only for a year. Probably, it can be the reason why he gave up his career. While talking to IOL sports, he stated,
“It was during these meetings that it was discussed that my contract would be upgraded if I remained eligible for the Proteas. After the meetings, I immediately called Arthur and told him I was happy with the proposal and that I would continue playing for the Proteas in terms of the new agreements.”
“I was paid the new amount for the next season, but not the following year. I was told that due to me not playing franchise cricket they could not pay me what was previously agreed upon. This has no bearing on my national contract. They presented their ‘ranking system’ which made no sense as I had actually gone up in the ICC Test rankings.”
In recent times, Philander was appointed Pakistan’s bowling coach for the ICC Men’s t20 World Cup 2021. Pakistan had a magnificent journey staying unbeaten throughout the Super 12 round, but unluckily, lost the semi-final versus Australia. Alongside the Proteas, Australia’s Matthew Hayden was appointed as the side’s batting coach for the marquee event.
