Vaughan questions Kolpak quality

Michael Vaughan has expressed concern about the number of Kolpak players flooding county cricket and reducing the pool of players available to England's selectors.

The England Test captain has become frustrated at the number of players, mainly South African, who have taken advantage of a ruling that no person from a country with a trade agreement with a European Union state should be regarded as an overseas worker.

"I'm slightly concerned about it," Vaughan admitted. "There are a number which have obviously taken over a couple of the teams but I can only speak from my experience at Yorkshire."

He added: "We have two very good ones in Jacques Rudolph and Deon Kruis who have added a lot to the team as well. As much as they can be a negative there are a lot out there who can improve the standards and the training.

"A lot of the young players at Yorkshire are looking up to those two now so I can only speak from my experience and the two we've had have been very good."

But other counties, particularly Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, have hired lesser-talented Kolpak players - a situation which Vaughan believes can undermine England's talent pool.

"Looking around the whole circuit, there seem to be a few who aren't doing that and that's my biggest concern," said Vaughan.

"If they're coming in and improving the standard, playing in the right fashion and training in the right fashion then it can only be a good thing but if they're coming in and not doing that then that's not so good.

"The one thing it does do is make sure you have to be good to get into that XI. If they are quality then it's fine because they add to the standard, but if they're not quality it's like anything they're not going to add to the standard."