South Africa head coach Russell Domingo has come down hard on Rilee Rossouw and Kyle Abbott after they quit the national team to sign a three-year and four-year Kolpak deal respectively with English county Hampshire.
The two have joined Stiaan van Zyl, Simon Harmer and Hardus Viljoen as the latest Proteas players to ply their trade with the English counties.
A disappointed Domingo revealed Rossouw had only informed Cricket South Africa of his decision via an email on Wednesday.
“I haven’t heard from Rilee since we left Australia, to be honest,” Domingo said.
“Some of us have tried to get hold of him, and this is the truth, we got an email from him off his iPhone telling us he’s signed a Kolpak deal. He spelled my name wrong for starters. He wrote one ‘L’ instead of two ‘Ls’. That’s where we are. I am bitterly disappointed in him,” he added.
Domingo further talked about the efforts the South Africa team management had put in to groom the 27-year-old batsman who they considered to be closest to AB de Villiers, ability-wise.
“He toured Australia as the back-up Test batsman. He was the next batsman in,” Domingo said.
“He’s played One-Day cricket for us and lots of T20 cricket for us. He’s the guy we backed after five noughts. If that was a player of colour who got five noughts, everyone would have said ‘transformation’.
“But he got five noughts and we thought this was a guy who could play the closest level to AB de Villiers. He’s a guy we’ve invested in massively and I am bitterly disappointed.”
Speaking about Abbott, he expressed his disappointment over the fact that the fast-bowler did not consult him while making the big decision.
“I had discussions with Kyle six to eight months ago, encouraging him to hang in to stay within the system while Morkel, Steyn and Rabada were fit and for him to be patient,” revealed Domingo.
“I thought it had subsided, and hadn’t heard the talk again until two days ago. That was also a disappointment for me that the whole thing has unfolded without us being consulted or even being allowed to pitch a sales pitch to him,” he added.
With the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander doing well, Abbott was struggling to break into the playing XI. However, he was getting ample chances in recent times and Domingo said if that was not enough for him to get confidence, there was not much his team could do.
“Nobody is guaranteed to play for his country. I can’t guarantee it. Nobody has the right to play for his country. He (Abbott) has as good a chance as any other player to play for his country.
“That has been the disappointment that weren’t allowed a sales pitch … we weren’t allowed to present anything to him before he made his decision.He’s been doing it for a period of time. He’s played most of the games. We took him ahead of Dale to the West Indies,” Domingo said.
“He played ahead of Morne Morkel in the West Indies. He played against Australia here when we beat them 5-0 (ODIs). He’s played in our T20 World Cup ahead of Morne Morkel, so if he hasn’t got an idea (that he was in the mix for the Champions Trophy) then I don’t know,” he concluded.