Proteas and Cobras set to lose the services of Paterson

THE Proteas are set to lose another fast bowler to Kolpak after Dane Paterson was excluded from the Cape Cobras’ 2020-21 contracted squad.

Paterson, 31, played eight T20s, four ODIs and two Test for the Proteas. The right-arm seamer featured in the final Test of the summer against England at the Wanderers, but will now look to pursue his future career in the English county championship.

“We have been informed that he (Paterson) is doing so (signing a Kolpak). He needs final boxes to be ticked by the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board),” Cobras coach Ashwell Prince said yesterday. Prince was particularly vocal on the Kolpak issue last season, calling out Cricket South Africa to urgently address the issues surrounding players choosing to pursue their careers in England when promising young Cobras batsman David Bedingham signed for Durham.

The Cobras coach, who played out the final days of his career as a Kolpak player at Lancashire, believes Paterson’s decision to move abroad is “very different” to Bedingham though.

“This is very different to David. In that situation, I still believed David’s best chance to play international cricket was for South Africa. I have communicated to him my thoughts about him going all the way to the top,” Prince said.

Should Paterson’s potential move be ratified by the ECB, it will certainly force Proteas coach Mark Boucher to rethink his bowling strategies.

The Proteas are blessed with the searing pace of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, but they have lost Vernon Philander’s skill – ironically also on a Kolpak after the veteran signed for Somerset at the end of last season. Paterson’s skill-set is the closest the Proteas have to a ready-made replacement for Philander, but Prince believes the bigger picture needs to be taken into account. “Each case has to be handled individually. I think if you are 30-years-old as a batsman your best years are still ahead of you, but as a bowler it’s a little bit different. I think there’s a lot of thought gone into it,” he said.

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