Leus du Plooy to miss remainder of season for Middlesex due to administrative blunder

New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) Middlesex will be without their captain Leus du Plooy for the remainder of the season due to an administrative blunder as the club did not register him as an overseas player before the deadline.

Du Plooy is a South African-born batter who has played in county cricket for several years as a local player, as he has a passport of Hungary and had expressed his wish to play for England at the international stage.

However, the 31-year-old had recently confirmed his desire to play for South Africa, which made his stay with Middlesex only possible as an overseas player. The club had an overseas player slot available in their squad, but were unaware of the clause and missed the deadline for registering him as an overseas player.

This will now see the left-handed batter miss the remainder of the season, including the Metro Bank One-Day Final next week for Middlesex. The final will take place on September 20 and will be Middlesex’s first List A final since 1990.

The club said that they were in talks with the ECB and the Professional Cricketers’ Association for the batter’s status, but he was not picked in the team that is facing Durham in their County Division Two clash this week. Max Holden is leading the side in his absence.

The club released a statement on Tuesday morning regarding the error. “Middlesex Cricket can confirm that captain Leus du Plooy will be unable to play for the club for the remainder of the 2026 season following clarification of his playing registration status under ECB regulations,” the club wrote.

“Last week, following an article in the press, the club confirmed that Leus had declared his intention to pursue an opportunity to play international cricket for South Africa. The club has now been made aware that, under ECB regulations, a player who has declared an intention to play for another country is classified as an overseas player for domestic cricket purposes.

“As a result, Leus is required to be registered as an overseas player in order to continue playing for Middlesex. The deadline for the registration of overseas players for the 2026 season was Sunday, 6 September, meaning that it is now not possible for the club to register Leus and select him for the remainder of the season.”

–IANS

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