England players to get NOCs for Afghanistan Premier League T20

Despite ECB's stance on playing Afghanistan in bilateral cricket, it is understood that the league will be treated the same way as any other, provided it receives an ICC sanction

The ECB will grant players No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to feature in the new Afghanistan Premier League T20 (APL) despite its reluctance to play bilateral series against Afghanistan.

England have never played Afghanistan in a bilateral series and the ECB faced significant pressure to boycott a fixture between the two nations in Lahore at last year's Champions Trophy due to the Taliban government's treatment of women and girls, which the United Nations has described as "gender apartheid".

The fixture eventually went ahead - Afghanistan won by eight runs to knock England out - but only after the ECB chair Richard Thompson had criticised the "appalling oppression" of women and girls in Afghanistan and called for a "coordinated international response by the cricketing community" rather than a unilateral boycott.

The APL is due to launch on December 27, and will be run by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) along with promoters Trans Group and ITW Universe. Its first season is due to be staged in the UAE, though the league's marketing material suggests it intends ultimately to host games at the Kabul International Cricket Stadium.

The Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) was unclear on whether players would be granted NOCs for the APL given the ECB's previous position on Afghanistan, but Cricinfo has learned that the league will be treated in the same way as any other, provided it receives an ICC sanction.There were protests outside Lord's a day before the Afghanistan-England Champions Trophy match in Lahore•PA Photos/Getty Images

The ECB's explanation for its stance is that while they choose not to arrange bilateral series against Afghanistan since they do not have a women's team, that policy is distinct from any decision over the availability of English players for overseas franchise tournaments.

The league's draft was recently postponed from September 27 to October 24, and the APL has announced the registrations of several English players. These include two players with ECB central contracts for 2025-26 in Ollie Pope and Luke Wood, as well as James Vince, Moeen Ali, Jason Roy, Reece Topley, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Laurie Evans.

The ECB faced significant backlash from players two years ago when it launched an attempted clampdown on NOCs for franchise leagues, particularly those that clash with the English season.

The Afghan refugee women's team toured England this year, while the ECB are part of a dedicated ICC taskforce to support displaced Afghan women's cricketers. The ICC reconstituted the taskforce earlier this year and gave it responsibility to develop a roadmap for the team to participate in ICC qualification pathways by 2030.

Several Afghanistan players have featured in English domestic cricket in recent seasons. Two Afghans - Noor Ahmad (Manchester Super Giants) and Rashid Khan (MI London) - appeared in the Hundred this year, while Fazalhaq Farooqi (Glamorgan) played in the T20 Blast.