Leus du Plooy signs Kolpak deal

Today's announcement of the signing of Leus du Plooy from South Africa, on a Kolpak deal, is both an interesting and very exciting one.

Of course, detractors will say that counties should not be giving opportunity to players from other countries, but I am sure that Derbyshire will continue to promote the best of young local talent, regardless of this signing.

Yet those same detractors cannot have it both ways. As the bigger, more affluent counties siphon off the cream of the talent that they work hard to produce, sometimes alternate mechanisms need to be in place to maintain competition. Unless circumstance requires the recall of Daryn Smit, the player, with Ravi Rampaul, is the only Kolpak we will field this year and Smit is here on an ancestral visa anyway, Kolpak status only so he cannot play in two countries as a local.

du Plooy, 24, arrives at the Pattonair County Ground with an already impressive first-class record, yet crucially one on which he will be keen to build. A first-class average of 47 and a List A one of 54 takes some doing, though not all were made at the highest level in South Africa, where he plays for Northerns province and the Titans franchise. Enough have been to be very excited, however and a rate of a fifty or hundred in less than every three innings in first- class cricket makes one sit up. So too a similar rate in List A matches, and an average over 30 in T20.

Two years ago, du Plooy hit the Sri Lankan attack for 142 from 159 deliveries, including 25 boundaries, while his winter has been awash with runs and wickets. He also bowls more than useful slow left arm, with an economy rate of under seven an over in T20 and best figures of 4-15, making him even more of a signing.

He signed off with successive scores of 119, 155 (List A) 85* (List A final) and 119, suggesting a rich vein of form and a player of serious talent and potential. Yet we should not expect too much, too soon.

He looks impressive, yet so too did Dominic Telo, who never made it in this country. English wickets, especially in the early season, have no South African equivalent and supporters will likely need to be patient while he gets used to the tracks. Those of us of a certain vintage will recall Chris Wilkins' early travails against the moving ball, that necessitated his dropping down the order to number four.

Yet there he was a great success, and an entertainer to boot. We must hope that du Plooy, who arrives with a reputation as a hard-hitting, left-handed batsman who usually bats at number four, follows in the footsteps of Wilkins, rather than Telo. For all his subsequent success, few had heard of Peter Kirsten when he came over here either, and that turned out rather well, for all parties.

The player is highly-rated back home and they will be rightly disappointed at losing him. Yet no one can be blamed for doing the best for themselves financially, and he is another victim of the country's quota system and a failure to properly remunerate the best players. He has a lot of time to make a huge success of his career here, and it will be one to watch with interest.

Dave Houghton is no fool and would not squander money on a deal were he not confident in the player's ability to succeed. If he comes off, as I suspect he will, it will go down as a magnificent signing, one that adds missing firepower to our batting, as well as yet another option to our bowling.

If it doesn't, then at least we have tried and it is encouraging that we have the requisite 'fingers on the pulse' to spot talent, wherever its origin.

I wish Leus well, as I'm sure all of you do. Watching him bat will be another reason to enjoy watching Derbyshire this summer.