Ross Whiteley heads for Hampshire after triumphant Southern Courageous stint

Transfer for Worcestershire participant raises fears over skill drain from non-hosting counties

Hampshire have showed the signing of Ross Whiteley on a three-year, white-ball contract in a transfer that can lift questions in regards to the independence of Hundred groups from their affiliated host counties.

Whiteley, 33, introduced previous this month that he would go away Worcestershire after turning down a freelance extension with the membership. As printed by way of ESPNcricinfo, numerous counties together with Sussex have been taken with signing him however he has opted to enroll in Hampshire, pronouncing in a membership commentary he was once “overjoyed to be becoming a member of a thrilling crew of avid gamers within the seek for extra trophies”.

The deal will come underneath scrutiny since Whiteley was once a key member of the Southern Courageous aspect which gained the inaugural version of the boys’s Hundred, hitting 44 now not out off 19 balls within the ultimate in opposition to Birmingham Phoenix. The Courageous are based totally on the Ageas Bowl and there was once important overlap between their enjoying and training team of workers and Hampshire’s.

Whilst there’s no recommendation of wrongdoing from Hampshire or Whiteley, his feedback upon finishing his transfer will lift fears that the counties whose house grounds additionally host Hundred groups are successfully ready to promote their membership’s amenities to avid gamers from smaller counties throughout the process the match, which might result in a non permanent skill drain.