EXCLUSIVE: Former Proteas all-rounder Vernon Philander takes legal action against CSA over breach of contract

Cape Town - Former Proteas all-rounder Vernon Philander has undertaken legal action against his former employers Cricket South Africa, due to an alleged breach of contract.

Philander, 36, played 111 internationals across all formats for the Proteas over a 13-year period. He retired in January 2020 after the last Test against England at the Wanderers.

Philander's grievances with Cricket SA are related to contract disputes during the latter stages of his career, and also CSA's failure to honour a long-service payment.

"It was during the 2018 tour of Sri Lanka when Cricket SA were very concerned about players leaving the national team and taking up Kolpak contracts in England. We had just lost a host of bowlers like Kyle (Abbott), Marchant (de Lange), Parny (Wayne Parnell) to Kolpak and Morne Morkel also retired to join Surrey. CSA were worried about losing more and they were aware that I had plenty of offers from a number of English counties," Philander exclusively told IOL Sport.

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"It was at this stage that Corrie van Zyl (CSA's former acting director of cricket and head of pathways and development) flew to Colombo to discuss my future with the Proteas. Firstly, my agent Arthur Turner should have been present in those meetings but obviously wasn’t because we were in Sri Lanka.

“It was during these meetings that it was discussed that my contract would be upgraded if I remained eligible for the Proteas. After the meetings I immediately called Arthur and told him I was happy with the proposal and that I would continue playing for the Proteas in terms of the new agreements.”

Philander claims that CSA honoured the new contract, but only for one