Elgar gets SA cricket contract as Smith retires

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7 March

Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Thursday named Dean Elgar as the replacement for Proteas captain Graeme Smith on its national list of contracted players for 2014/15. Smith announced his retirement from international cricket earlier this week.

‘Obvious replacement’

“Dean is the obvious replacement and must be excited by the opportunity to emulate the greatness achieved by his recently retired national captain,” CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat said in a statement.

“He has all the attributes and qualifies as the next player eligible to be awarded a contract in terms of the new methodology we developed together with the South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca).

“As mentioned before, the Board has also agreed to award multi-year contracts to our top players to secure and recognise their value.”

Two-year contracts

The seven players awarded two-year contracts are Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn.

The other 10 nationally contracted players awarded one-year contracts are Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Imran Tahir and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Jacques Kallis has been awarded a special contract for one year only.

In addition, CSA has announced the 12 Franchise players to receive CSA High Performance Centre (HPC) top-up contracts, also for a one-year period.

‘Investment in our future’

“This is investment in our future,” commented CSA selection convener Andrew Hudson.

“We are keen to centrally influence the management and close monitoring of these exciting young players so that we can provide the best chance of developing their careers to the full potential.

“I am excited by the mix of this group of talented players and it is now up to our programmes to develop these players to one day represent the Proteas as we move into a new era following the retirement of several great players from the Castle Lager test squad.

“The HPC players will be managed, developed and monitored quarterly to see that they are fulfilling their potential.”

CSA HPC contracted players

The CSA HPC contracted players are Kyle Abbott, Temba Bavuma, Simon Harmer, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Eddie Leie, Mangaliso Mosehle, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Stiaan van Zyl and Khaya Zondo.

CSA Chief Executive Lorgat also confirmed enhancements to the existing BSkyB broadcasting deal that would extend broadcast content into the markets of UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.

‘New opportunites’

“It is really exciting to work with our commercial partners to seek new opportunities and even augment existing deals.

“Their confidence in South African cricket and our future tours programme is truly rewarding,” he said.

SAinfo reporter and Cricket South Africa