Beyers Swanepoel's early exit poses more questions than answers

Beyers Swanepoel had taken three important wickets to help the Lions reduce the Titans to 188/5 after 43 overs in the One-Day Cup final at the Wanderers on Sunday. Then, like Elvis, he left the building.

It was 5pm. Swanepoel had a flight to catch in the coming hours, and it seems he wasn't going let a matter of seven unbowled overs get in the way of his travel plans. Even with a provincial title on the line.

Now his future as a professional cricketer is under threat. The Lions are livid, understandably, and are contemplating cancelling his contract. Worcestershire - who Swanepoel was in a hurry to join ahead of the coming county championship - may not be allowed to deploy him because he has arrived without a signed No Objection Certificate (NOC) from CSA and the Lions.

Centrally contracted players need only CSA's agreement to turn out for foreign teams. Domestic players, like Swanepoel, need both CSA's and their provincial union's permission. Swanepoel has neither. Cricbuzz understands CSA are engaging the ECB on the saga.

But first, the mitigating factors. The 43rd over was the last of Swanepoel's 10. He was done bowling for the day. Also, the Titans needed just 60 more runs from the remaining 42 deliveries. That's a required runrate of 1.43; a doddle, especially with Keegan Petersen and Duan Jansen 67 runs into a stand that would reach 78.

The aggravating factor is that, because of the circumstances of Swanepoel's absence, the Lions were denied a substitute fielder for much of those seven last overs. Even so, they took the game deep - the Titans won by three wickets with a ball to spare. But that means the result could have been different if the Lions had had one more pair of hands, as they should have had, to try and stop the runs.

Worcestershire announced in December that Swanepoel had signed a one-year contract with them to play in the county championship. Their first match, away to Derbyshire, starts on Friday. It appears Swanepoel neglected to inform his South African employers, the Lions, that he would leave for England on the day of the final.

Cricbuzz has learnt the Lions management discovered during their team's batting innings that Swanepoel would knock off early. By then he had of course been named in the XI and it was too late to remedy the situation.

But Swanepoel had indeed revealed his intentions earlier - to, of all people, the opposition. So, when he stepped across the boundary and prepared to vacate the ground, Albie Morkel, the Titans assistant coach, knocked on the match officials' door and told them what was happening. Morkel did so because he knew that would mean Swanepoel couldn't be replaced in the field. Who could blame Morkel: it was a final.

The officials, led by match referee Gerrie Pienaar, knew they would have to wait eight minutes before asking questions. That's the amount of time allotted for absences before players are liable to be lumped with penalties restricting their further participation in the match.

Once the eight minutes had elapsed, Brad White, the reserve umpire, was dispatched to the Lions dressingroom with questions. According to a source with first-hand knowledge of the situation, White "didn't get a straight answer". So Pienaar himself did the same thing. This time, the answer was straight: Elvis had left the building. With that, the substitute fielder was ordered off and the Lions were down to 10 men.

Jono Leaf-Wright, the Lions chief executive, spent much of Monday giving reporters versions of this quote: "I'm extremely disappointed with Beyers. This is not the kind of conduct we, as the Lions, expect from our players. He has let down his teammates and the union."

The Lions are in no mood to sign Swanepoel's NOC. Instead they are conducting an investigation, which is allowing several parties to dodge questions.

Cricbuzz asked Worcestershire whether they knew about Swanepoel's travel arrangements and the clash with the final, whether they knew he would play on Sunday, and whether the county had booked his flight. We also asked who at Worcestershire we could interview.

"Worcestershire County Cricket Club is aware of the reports concerning Beyers Swanepoel's departure from the Lions' One-Day Cup final in South Africa on Sunday," the county replied. "Beyers is due to join Worcestershire ahead of the start of the county championship this week. We are in the process of establishing the full facts and, while that is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further."

Swanepoel's agent, Donovan Kretschmer, was approached. "At this stage we are not in a position to comment on the details of the matter," Kretschmer said. "We can confirm that we are in ongoing discussions with CSA and the Lions, and that all appropriate processes and protocols are being followed. I'll get in touch with you once the process has concluded."

The South African Cricketers' Association (SACA) were asked for their position, especially as it would seem Swanepoel won't be able to play for Worcestershire if the Lions don't sign his NOC. "We have been engaging with the Lions and CSA," Andrew Breetzke, SACA's chief executive, said. "We are awaiting finalisation of the Lions investigation and will then review relative to the player contract, the [Memorandum of Understanding between SACA and CSA, which includes NOC regulations], and player agent regulations."

That's a lot of murk. But here's a clear question: who books the flight in instances like this? "The county does, but with the input of the player and his agent," an experienced agent told Cricbuzz. "Put it this way, it wouldn't have been a unilateral decision by Worcestershire to put Beyers on that flight."

Cricbuzz understands Worcestershire paid the money for Swanepoel's flight but did not make the booking. Neither, apparently, did Kretschmer. If that's true, surely it was Swanepoel who cleared himself for take-off seven overs early. That's one for the money, two for the no-show.