England cricketers
England cricketers

According to a report, a coalition of “50 prominent England batsmen” will skip next year’s Centenary competition in protest against the English and Wales Test Board’s (ECB) change of its NOC policy, which requires players to participate in franchise competitions. Last week, The Telegraph claimed that the ECB intended not to award NOCs for tournament dates that clashed with the English summer unless the player “is on a white-ball-only deal with their county”. 

“This included the Pakistan Super League, a league which will move to a slot contemporaneous to the Indian Premier League (which also is unpopular and exempt from that regulation) in April and May of 2017,” per the newspaper in question. Players are thought to have received NOCs in all tournaments that overlapped with the Atp Blast or the 100.

“The Next year. This will feature Major Tournament cricket, Canada’s International T20 League, the Lankan Premier League, and the Caribbean Premier League.” “The list of leagues clashing against the home season is only going to grow,” the report claimed.

The ECB’s attitude on the topic has pushed the players to engage in numerous meetings with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) this week. The players saw the body’s members on Monday, and their agents met with officials on Wednesday.

While the story stated that “a group of 50 leading English cricketers” are considering boycotting the Hundred, it did not indicate whether this group includes any of the players currently on the New Zealand Test tour.

“It is interpreted, nevertheless, because each team engaged in preliminary meetings about the thought of taking a common stance regarding next year’s Hundred,” based to the newspaper.