One leading player agent warned the growth of franchise competitions during the English summer could encourage more English players to become white-ball specialists.
“If the PSL stays in the new window it’s going to drive them even more to white-ball,” the agent said, adding that the ECB faces “an uphill battle to protect the County Championship” in the current climate.
A less welcoming attitude to giving out NOCs would be designed to encourage players to continue to play in England during the domestic summer. In April and May next year, there will be 122 combined overseas slots in the IPL and PSL. This has raised fears that over 30 England players could appear in either of these competitions, while there are also a growing number of overseas tournaments during the prime months of summer.
The ECB is consulting over the finer details of the new policy, and is eager not to inadvertently drive county players into becoming white-ball specialists. But there is a consensus about the need to protect the domestic summer as the global calendar becomes more saturated.
A new game-wide policy could be agreed in the coming weeks, which will see the ECB take more of a lead on NOCs, as a number of county directors of cricket have urged. The status quo is seen as giving individual players too much power: if, say, one county threatens to block a player from appearing in a foreign league, they could then threaten to move to another county.
‘County Championship could become development competition’
This year, Lancashire pace bowler Luke Wood missed the club’s final matches in Division One – as the club fought in vain to stay up – to appear in the Zim Afro T10, a 10-over-a-side competition in Zimbabwe. Such a move would not be permitted under the mooted change in the NOC policy, unless Wood was to retire from first-class cricket altogether.
Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney recently criticised how county contracts had become “diluted”. He called for action to stop English players appearing in foreign leagues and the value of top-tier county contracts to be increased. Gidney warned that “the current player market could lead to a situation where the championship becomes like the 50-over competition – a development competition”.
A new approach from the ECB could also encourage some players to stay in England throughout the home summer. “It’s a very competitive world out there,” the player agent said. “So if you’re going to prioritise white-ball, you have to be pretty sure that you’re going to be getting those contracts.”
Some English players without central contracts are already white-ball specialists. This year, Jason Roy missed T20 Blast fixtures for Surrey to appear in Major League Cricket and the Caribbean Premier League. Alex Hales missed Blast matches for Nottinghamshire to appear in the Lanka Premier League.
“It’s not our choice really,” Notts head coach Peter Moores said at the time. “Players have the choice now, the players decide. And they have so much choice, there are so many leagues around.”
