Vaughn van Jaarsveld has decided that his future lies with South Africa, less than five months after signing a three-year deal with Warwickshire as a Kolpak player.
"It's a disappointing situation," Ashley Giles, Warwickshire's director of cricket, told the Birmingham Post. "He's signed a contract, a lucrative one for a young guy, and we're paying him. He was in our plans but now he tells us he doesn't want to come back."
Although he only played a one-day match for the county last season, he had impressed in the 2nd XI and was expected to be a regular first-team player in 2008.
van Jaarsveld will now play for Gauteng, but he has not done his reputation any good with the way he has dealt with Warwickshire. Not only has he, according to the county, breached his contract, he has also failed to speak to county officials who have been left discussing the situation with their opposite numbers at Gauteng.
At the time he signed, van Jaarsveld denied he was using English cricket to hone his skills before heading back to South Africa. "I'm here to qualify as an Englishman," he said. "I'm going to be spending at least 210 days a year here and the aim is to play for England. I just want to play cricket at the highest level possible and there are more opportunities here."
His actions will give more ammunition to those who argue that the number of Kolpak signings is detrimental to the game in England.