TWO RATHER interesting occurrences have taken place in cricket over the last four days, one regarding Jamaica's Wavell Hinds, who hasn't played for the West Indies for almost a year to this day, and the other pertains to the West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB) appointment of another Australian, John Dyson, as coach of the regional team.

I'll take a look at Hinds' signing this week, and deal with that of Dyson next week.

Hinds has signed a one-year deal as a Kolpak player with English County team Derbyshire, for the 2008 season.

The Kolpak ruling was passed by the European Union (EU) in 2003 and allows any player from countries that share an associate trading relationship with the EU to play as a professional within the EU. Another criteria is the player must not have played internationally for at least one year. And they can later qualify and go on to represent England.

Point of controversy

It has been a point of controversy at times, externally for countries whose players are benefiting through cricketing contracts in England, and internally because the English Cricket Board (ECB) believes home-grown talent is stifled because of the opportunities afforded to foreigners.

This comes despite the fact that the ECB limits each county to only two overseas players.

Subsequently, clubs are able to circumvent the limitation through Kolpak deals and hire other professionals from outside England.

In June this year, Gerald Majola, chief executive of Cricket South Africa, said the Kolpak ruling is killing international cricket and urged affected governments and the ICC to address the issue, after its 22-year-old batsman, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, signed such a contract.

Then, Majola told the South African Press Association: "We are particularly worried about the young players taking up Kolpak contracts. We have invested a lot of money in them, through the national cricket academy and in other ways.

"Vaughn is a case in point. We have been watching him since he was at school. We could see he had something special, now he has indicated that he wants to try to qualify to play for England and our investment in him is lost."

Majola also said England was as badly affected: "Because of the strength of the pound, they can get a better and cheaper Kolpak player than an English player. This means that English players are having difficulty coming through the system. "The whole Kolpak thing is affecting international cricket, with more and more players opting to play county cricket. If nothing is done, you'll find the world's best players on the county circuit, with second-string players representing their countries and international cricket will just go downhill."

Another view, this from Ian Smith, vice-president of the Professional Cricketers' Association, is: "With the number of recruitments we are seeing, things are in danger of swaying in the wrong direction," he told The Daily Telegraph. "The problem people are those who bypass the system, make a pile of cash, then go home."

Signing on as a Kolpak player poses other challenges than the regular overseas players that are attached to a county team. While any one or two of the overseas players assigned to a county can play for their national team during their contract, in the case of Hinds and other Kolpak players, they would have to rescind their contract if they were to accept any invitation from their national team.

Most opportune time

One must concede though that this chance for the 31-year-old Hinds, a left-handed batting all-rounder who bowls right-handed, comes at a most opportune time as his career was in doubt. Hinds, who has captained the Jamaica team, has been barred from playing competitively here for the remainder of this season for 'verbally abusing' umpires Errington Malcolm and Desmond Edwards in a domestic match between his club, Kensington, and Trelawny on June 23.

Additionally, since the one-day international against Australia in October last year, Hinds has not played for the West Indies.

His medium pacers could make him an asset to Derbyshire, as was the case in the ICC Champions Trophy tournament in 2004 that was won by the West Indies - when his semi-final and final returns of two for 27 off 10 overs against Pakistan and three for 24 off 10 against England, proved decisive in the team's championship success.

In a full tour of England in 2000, Hinds, who averages 33.01 from 2,608 runs in 46 Tests and 28.92 from 2,835 runs in 114 ODIs, hit three centuries in six tour matches against county teams, but failed in the Test series where he was largely believed to be a victim of some very dubious umpiring decisions. Hence, his batting may yet be a factor.

audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com