England national cricket team players are ready to battle the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). As reported by the Telegraph, 50 players from the team are understood to be considering boycotting next year’s Hundred in protest at the board’s decision not to allow players to play in franchise tournaments.

Since the last few months, the England and Wales Cricket Board has been quite strict and has conveyed to the players the importance of playing for the nation. Last week they took a firm step when they changed their policy regarding “no objection certificates” (NoC) for players to play in foreign leagues.

The ECB will not give NoCs to players in leagues that will coincide with the English summer

The ECB mentioned that players will not receive NoC for leagues that will coincide with the English summer unless the player has a white-ball-only contract with their county. This means that no player would be part of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Not only this, England players will also not be able to play the tournament which will coincide with the Vitality Blast and the Hundred schedule. This means that players would find it difficult to play in Major League Cricket, Canada’s Global T20 League and Lanka Premier League, as well as the Caribbean Premier League.

This, however, has not gone well with the players, who have expressed their disappointment. Nearly 50 players were reportedly part of the series of meetings with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) this week. From these meetings, the PCA will take calls to see if they should issue a formal response related to ECB policy.

England players have decided not to be part of the negotiations to be retained by their teams unless the NoC situation is resolved.

Reports also added that some of the English players have had discussions related to playing in Hundred. Some cricketers have been known to decide that they will not be part of the negotiations to be retained by their teams and then refuse to enter the draft unless the NoC situation is resolved more to their liking.

Reports claimed that among the 40 to 50 players, a significant number of players have represented England. This could become a major headache for the ECB, especially now that the stakes in the eight hundred teams are being sold to investors.

Some players have decided to retire from red-ball cricket.

A source close to the events stated that: “In principle, this is a really strong stance that shows the strength of feeling. The question is whether some break ranks because money talks and there could be a domino effect.”

Not only this, reports claim that some of the county’s top players have decided to withdraw from red-ball action and renegotiate their contracts with the county if their lucrative contracts in Pakistan are confirmed. It remains to be seen whether the ECB will change its stance on NOCs in this regard.

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