LEFT ARM OVER
NEIL MANTHORP: Bigger stages abroad add to money as powerful drawcards that lure top cricketers
Players rue the loss of star players Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw as sad but inevitable, writes Neil Manthorp
Preparations for the third Test at the Wanderers this week have been tinged with an undeniable air of melancholy, and it is not just because the Sri Lankan tourists have died on the field in the first two games. Most of the national squad players have reacted to the loss of two colleagues in much the same way that families cope with the loss of elderly relatives — sad but inevitable. There have been long faces, much shoulder-shrugging and many wishes that the departures will not be too painful. But let us be clear about one thing — even if clarity is impossible about many others. Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw both wanted to go. They did not slip through some imaginary net, they are not sad or reluctant travellers. Cricket SA may have made mistakes but it did not contribute to these players leaving and there was nothing they could have done differently to make them stay. Abbott and Rossouw sat with the knowledge of their departure for five months, including a victorious tour of Austr...
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