Vilas remains with Red Rose on overseas deal

LANCASHIRE captain Dave Vilas has signed a deal to stay with the club this summer, but as an overseas player.

The South African has spent the last four years at the Red Rose classified as a domestic ‘Kolpak’, leaving the county to employ another overseas player in the Championship and two more in the T20 Blast.

However, now the UK are out of the European

Union, the Kolpak rule no longer exists, so Lancashire have had to sign Vilas as an overseas player.

The 35-year-old, who was largely unknown when he first joined the Red Rose, has been a key member of the side, leading them to promotion in 2019 as Lancashire bounced straight back into the top-flight by winning Division Two without losing a match.

He has also led the Red

Rose to the knockout stages of limited-overs competition three times.

He is approaching 3,000 first-class runs in 49 matches for the county he joined in 2017.

And now he is just pleased to have secured his short-term future with the Emirates Old Trafford club.

“The potential end of my non-overseas status has been apparent for a while and I’ve worked closely with the club during that time to explore all available avenues,” said Vilas.

“It has been a period of uncertainty but I’m delighted that the situation is finally resolved and I will continue my career at Emirates Old Trafford. I absolutely love playing for Lancashire and see it very much as my home now.”

Vilas was snapped up for £250,000 for the Manchester Originals in last year’s draft for The Hundred. However, the pandemic saw the inaugural season cancelled, and now it is unsure whether he will retain that status for this year’s competition as he would have to be signed as an overseas player.

However, Lancashire’s director of cricket Paul Allott insisted there was never any question over the Red Rose signing their captain on an overseas deal. He said: “Dane’s record in county cricket is first class and as good as anything you would expect from an overseas player, so in many ways it has been a luxury to have him registered without using one of our overseas slots.”

And Allott says they are looking at bringing in another overseas player for 2021, despite the club being hit financially hard by the pandemic last year.

He said: “We are considering our options for the remaining overseas place to further strengthen our squad for the upcoming season.”