Cricket South Africa (CSA) director of national teams and high performance Enoch Nkwe says a decision on Heinrich Klaasen’s national contract will be made ‘sometime this month’. KHUNULOGO MPOLOKENG reports.
The 33-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman was not among the 20 Proteas players contracted for the 2025-26 season.
Klaasen is reportedly hesitant to sign with CSA as he wants the freedom to play in the world’s four biggest T20 leagues – the IPL, the SA20, The Hundred (in England) and MLC (in the US).
The Proteas are set to play a lot of white-ball cricket this season, with several series either clashing with those T20 leagues or starting shortly after them.
“We’ve been having all sorts of discussions and he’ll come back to us on the way forward,” Nkwe said yesterday. “I can’t go into detail at the moment, I can only do so once it’s been finalised.
“There’s obviously a lot to look at. There’s the T20 World Cup next year, the 2027 [ODI] World Cup, there’s his age … so the whole thing is not as straightforward as it might look. We’ve looked at every single element to this situation, from a contract point of view.”
Nkwe also confirmed that CSA’s preparation plan for the World Test Championship (WTC) final remains in place, despite some Proteas’ continued involvement in the IPL, which will now conclude on June 3 following a brief stoppage.
CSA yesterday said the Proteas will play a warm-up match against Zimbabwe in Arundel from June 3-6 ahead of the final at Lord’s Cricket Ground in England from June 11-15.
“It is an individual’s decision to return to India to continue playing, but one thing we’ve made clear is that we’re sticking to our original plan when it comes to the WTC preparations, and we’re finalising that with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India),” said Nkwe.
“May 26 is the latest for the Test guys to come back. The number one priority is the WTC final, and the rest of the guys who are not part of the final can continue playing IPL.
“We believe we’ve had a good relationship with the BCCI over time, hence we’ve been engaging them over the last day or two in order to ensure that we’re all on the same page in terms of prioritising the Test players.”
Also read: WTC final must trump IPL – Proteas coach
Nkwe expressed confidence that there won’t be any resistance from either the BCCI or the franchises to release players.
“We’re engaging the BCCI and the IPL – the tournament’s governing body – and that’s as far as we can go. Yes, the contract is between the player and the franchise, but we needed to get in contact with the governing body and take it from there.”
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