HOVE, England, CMC – Dwayne Smith will be eyeing a return to West Indies colours after work permit problems recently forced the Barbados batsman out of his contract at English County Sussex.
The 26-year-old no longer qualifies under the Kolpak ruling as he has not played often enough recently for the West Indies in Tests.
In fact, the last of his 10 Tests came over three years ago and he has not played a One-Day International in two years.
“Dwayne has been a huge force for us,” BBC Sport quoted Sussex’s chief executive Dave Brooks as saying.
“We obviously did want to hold onto him. He is the fifth-highest scorer in Twenty20 cricket anywhere in the world and he is probably the best outfielder in the world.
“It was always his intention to stay, but he is now back in Barbados and looking to get into the West Indies side.”
Smith is a member of the Barbados squad currently in Guyana for the President’s Cup one-day tournament which bowls off next week.
Players are using the competition to make their cases for selection for the three-Test tour of Australia starting next month.
Brooks said Smith had qualified as a Kolpak player when he signed for the south coast England club in 2008 but no longer met the criteria.
British immigration stipulations for overseas players state that a cricketer must have played one Test in the past two years or five in the past five years to be eligible under the Kolpak player.
Smith has been a resounding success at Sussex especially in the game’s shorter forms and inspired the club to the Twenty20 Cup with a sensational half-century against Somerset in the final.
“We’ve worked with him for two years, we know how good he is and hopefully we’ll be able to bring him back,” Brooks said. “We’ll be keeping an eye on him and we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
Under the Kolpak ruling, players from countries with trade relationships with Britain can qualify as non-overseas players.
Despite a century on Test debut against South Africa, Smith has largely struggled at international level and averages just 24.61 in 14 innings.
