A group of ‘England’s 50 leading players’ are likely to boycott next year’s The Hundred competition in protest against changes to the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) No Objection Certificate (NOC) policy. Players require NOC from the board to participate in franchise tournaments.
The ECB last week decided not to issue NOCs for tournaments whose dates clash with their domestic seasons, The Telegraph reported. However, exemption will be given to those players who have contracts for only limited overs cricket with their county teams.
According to the report, “However, Indian Premier League is not included in this list of foreign leagues required for NOC, while Pakistan Super League is named in it.” It is believed that the players will not be included in the list of Vitality Blast or The Hundred. NOC will not be issued for any competition matching the dates.
“Next year, the leagues expected to clash with the domestic season include Major League Cricket (USA), Canada’s Global T20 League and the Lanka Premier League as well as the Caribbean Premier League,” the report said. This list is likely to increase further.
The ECB’s stance on the matter has forced the players to hold several rounds of discussions with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) this week. The players met members of the body on Monday followed by a meeting of their representatives with officials on Wednesday.
The report claims that ‘a group of 50 leading England cricketers’ are considering a boycott of The Hundred. However, it is not known whether there is any player from the team touring New Zealand in this group or not.
