Cricket South Africa announced the list of names of their contracted players for the duration of the 2024/25 season of both the women and men Proteas players.
18 Proteas men players were named for the duration of the next year. CSA has given one year contracts which is something that they are legging behind with the current trends. The England & Wales Cricket Board are currently awarding their players with two year contracts to ensure the players feel secured and they are not attracted by franchise cricket money.
Probably with South Africa owning their own franchise cricket tournament in the SA20, the organisation probably feels they have secured the domestic and national team players loyalty.
There is no surprise omissions among the Proteas men players as Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock have retired from international cricket. Quinton is only playing T20 cricket and CSA never gives players that avail themselves only for T20 cricket contracts.
Wayne Parnell is another name that has been omitted because of the injuries that he has had over the last year. Sisanda Magala has also suffered the same fate as Wayne. Sisanda’s injuries even prevented him from participating in last years cricket world cup and being part of the successful Sunrisers Eastern Cape squad in the SA20.
Proteas quickest bowler Anrich Nortje was the biggest name to be omitted. According to ESPNcricinfo.com, the reason for Anrich not being awarded a contract is that he requested not to get a contract as he wants to concentrate on white ball cricket. This is a way for him to get back to full fitness without the responsibility of honouring his demanding international contract with CSA. In the following year if Anrich avoids major injuries, he is likely to be part of the CSA contracted players.
The biggest surprise among the contracted players is WSB Western Province left-arm bowler Nandre Burger. Nandre has seen his stocks go up this season with the Proteas call playing all 3 formats for South Africa and also earning an IPL contract.
WP captain Kyle Verreynne who has emerged as the leading candidate to take over the wicketkeeping duties for the Proteas Test side has missed out on the contract. His teammate David Beddingham also missed out on the contract and David has emerged as one of the Proteas better middle-order batters in the transitioning Test team. Both players may feel hard done but one thing they are certain of is more game time in the Test team. Hopefully, in the next year they will join Nandre and Tony de Zorzi as part of the contracted CSA players from WP.
Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee are some of the young players that have been rewarded with contracts. Andile Phehlukwayo made his way back into the nationally contracted players. Hopefully, Andile in the next year will return the faith CSA management has shown him with a string of match winning performances. Bjorn Fortuin earned his contract by being the best slow left-arm arm T20 bowler in the country even with the competition from Keshav Maharaj.
In the Proteas women list of contracted players only the retired Shabnim Ismail was not awarded a contract. The list of names increased from 14 to 16 as well.
Recent Proteas debutants Eliz-Mari Marx and Ayanda Hlubi have also been given contracts by CSA. The only thing CSA needs to do for the Proteas women players is pay them the same amount as the men players. Same amount of work should be equal pay in such an organisation. The Proteas women players in the end will be short changed compared to their male co-workers as they do not play the same amount of matches and play way less Test cricket in terms of match fees.
Proteas Men’s Contract Squad 2024/25:
Temba Bavuma , Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs and Rassie van der Dussen.
Proteas Women’s Contract Squad 2024/25:
Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Lara Goodall, Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Suné Luus, Eliz-Mari Marx, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhu
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