Domingo was less than impressed with Rossouw and Abbott’s decision to sign Kolpak deals

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

South Africa head coach Russell Domingo has slammed batsman Rilee Rossouw and pace bowler Kyle Abbott after they decided to end their international careers in order to sign Kolpak deals with Hampshire.

Domingo admitted that he was infuriated with the fact that Rossouw has not been in contact with him since South Africa’s tour of Australia in November.

To make things worse, Domingo only learned through a message from Rossouw’s father that the 27-year-old had signed a Kolpak deal.

“I’m really disappointed with Rilee and I haven’t heard from him since we left Australia,” Domingo said. “Someone has been trying to get hold of him and there was an email response from an iPhone from his father saying his son has taken up a Kolpak contract‚ and he also spelt my name wrong with one L instead of two.”

The 42-year-old added that he had high expectations of Rossouw and felt that with the flashes of brilliance he had shown when healthy, he had the ability to become as good as AB de Villiers.

“I’m bitterly disappointed because he was the next batsman in and he’s played in all our structures,” Domingo said. “He’s the guy we backed after five noughts and if it was a player of colour we backed after getting five noughts‚ everybody would have said transformation.

“He got five noughts but we thought this is the guy who could play at the closest level to AB de Villiers in the limited overs setup. I’m bitterly disappointed.”

Domingo was just as irritated about Abbott’s decision to cut his South Africa career short, especially when he was starting to have a real impact with the ball and had become a crucial part of the Proteas’ pace attack.

“There have been issues that haven’t been discussed and issues players have not been honest about,” he said. “I’ve picked players and they’ve known that they’re done‚ which sets me and the team back massively because Kyle was going to take the new ball for us in the Champions Trophy.

“Who’ll take the new ball for us 10 matches before the tournament starts? Players need to understand these things and also be open and honest.

“If Kyle didn’t have an idea of being back then I don’t know. I’ve had discussions with Kyle six to eight months ago encouraging him to hang in and stay within the side while the main bowlers were fit.

“I thought it had subsided until two days ago and I’m disappointed that all of this has unfolded without us being able to make a sales pitch to him in terms of what we can offer him. Nobody is guaranteed a place in the national team.”