Beyers Swanepoel's contract with Lions terminated

Beyers Swanepoel knows how the Lions felt when he dumped them in the middle of a final to catch a flight. Because the Lions have now dumped Swanepoel.

A release from the union on Thursday (April 9) said Swanepoel's contract, which had a year to run, had been "terminated with immediate effect". Albeit the blow was softened by the threadbare claim that the province and the player had "reached a mutual agreement to part ways".

Lions chief executive Jono Leaf-Wright was quoted as saying: "It has been an unfortunate period for all parties involved but we have now brought the matter to a close, allowing everyone to move forward. At Lions cricket we hold ourselves to the highest professional standards and take matters of this nature very seriously."

Swanepoel was quoted as saying: "I loved my season representing the Pride [sic] and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I sincerely apologise to the entire Lions family for what transpired in the Final [sic] and can assure everyone that many lessons have been learnt."

Swanepoel was neither injured nor ill nor otherwise indisposed when he walked off the field after 43 overs of the Titans' innings in the One-Day Cup (ODC) final at the Wanderers on March 29. Then he made his way to the airport to take a flight to England - where he was due to take up a one-year county championship deal with Worcestershire, who started their campaign away to Derbyshire five days after the ODC final.

When the reason for Swanepoel's absence was confirmed the Lions were rightfully denied a substitute fielder. The Titans won by three wickets with a ball to spare, a result that could have been different had the home side had all of their fielders.

That's bad enough, but it gets worse. Domestic cricketers - those who are not contracted by CSA - need both the national body and their provincial union to sign a No Objection Certificate (NOC) before they can play for a foreign team. Swanepoel made the trip to England despite not having either of those signatures. Consequently Worcestershire didn't pick him. Instead they hurried to hire Oliver Hannon-Dalby for their first two championship matches.

As awful as all that is, it could get even worse for Swanepoel. As well as destroying his relationship with the Lions, he remains in trouble with CSA, who have accused him of bringing the game into disrepute. He has been charged with a level four offence - the most serious category - and the penalty, CSA's regulations say, is "a suspension of between five four-day matches or 10 one-day/T20 matches and a life ban".

A life ban would be too severe a punishment. But it might well be informally imposed: which organisation, in whatever country, would sign Swanepoel knowing he has gone AWOL during a match?

Swanepoel turns 28 next month. He has played 48 first-class matches, 55 list A games and 48 T20s. He turned out in 17 of those matches, across the formats, for Kent from May to August 2024 - when he didn't leave his South African team in the lurch and did indeed present a signed NOC to his English employers.

So he can have no excuse for not knowing better than to do what he did. That's the point of gaining experience; when you are in the same situation again you know what to do. And you do it. Swanepoel knew what to do. He not only chose not to do it. He chose to do the wrong thing instead.

It's worth repeating the quote attributed to him: "I loved my season representing the Pride and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I sincerely apologise to the entire Lions family for what transpired in the Final and can assure everyone that many lessons have been learnt."

If he "loved" his season with the Lions, why was he in indecent haste to get the hell away from them? No-one is fooled by the unnecessary capitalisation of "Pride" and "Final". How come both weren't important enough to Swanepoel for him to stay with his team until the end of the game? And what nonsense is this about "what transpired" in the final? The only acceptable choice of words would have been "what I did".

Too little, too late, too glib, too fake. The Lions are well rid of him.