“Pick me in the PSL, I will play for free,” Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus asks for an opportunity
Gerhard Erasmus was one of the most impressive batsmen from associate countries in recent T20 World Cup
The Namibia international captain Gerhard Erasmus has tweeted if he is given an opportunity to play in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), he will be available to play for free without taking any money at all.
Erasmus replied to a post that covered the story of the former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal refusing to play for Peshawar Zalmi because he was demoted from the platinum category to the silver category.
In the article, it was mentioned that Akmal insisted he had played enough cricket and performed well enough to get a platinum category contract and not a silver category. Responding to the story, Erasmus wrote, “pick me, I will be there for free,”.
The associate countries have got quite a few cricketers who are good enough to play in the franchise based foreign leagues, but the reason why most of these cricketers fail to earn a contract for themselves is that they don’t grab too many eyeballs when they play international cricket.
The scheduling of international cricket at the moment is such that the associate countries generally play most of their bilateral cricket among themselves, and hardly any top country schedules a series against them.
If top countries play more often with the associates, there is a good chance that some of the world-class associate players will be able to grab the eyeballs of the franchise owners and scouts around the world.
Gerhard Erasmus, led Namibia inspirationally in T20 World Cup 2021
Someone like Gerhard Erasmus, who has captained Namibia excellently in the last little while, was batting fabulously in the recent T20 World Cup in the UAE, but a couple of his quality performances came in the qualifiers which not many people watched.
For an international cricketer to comment on a Twitter post and ask for an opportunity in a franchise competition, even without salary, is slightly embarrassing for ICC, which is the global governing body of the game.
Pick me, I’ll be there for free. 👆
— Gerhard Erasmus (@gerharderasmus) December 13, 2021
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ICC has done its bit as far as the development of associate cricket is concerned, but at the end of the day, it also comes down to some of the top national boards around the world to consider and have a look at these associate players, if they are good enough to play in the top leagues.
