Ben Stokes is on course for another clash with the England and Wales Cricket Board because the governing body is unlikely to grant him permission to play in overseas franchise competitions next summer.
The former England captain is understood to have had discussions with franchises in the United States’ Major League Cricket (MLC) and Pakistan Super League (PSL) about joining them next season, but the Guardian has learned that the ECB is reluctant to provide the No-Objection Certificate required to play in either competition while he remains registered with Durham.
Stokes’ central contract will be cancelled at the end of this month after his shock retirement from international cricket in June, but the ECB will still exert significant influence over his career through their control over NOCs, the governing-body clearance needed to play overseas.
While it makes an exception for the all-powerful Indian Premier League (IPL), the ECB’s policy is to deny NOCs to players seeking to take part in tournaments that clash with domestic competitions for which they are contracted.
In updated regulations published in November 2024 the ECB gave itself powers to reject an NOC request from non England-contracted domestic-registered players if the overseas tournament “is scheduled to take place (in part or in full) during the season,” or granting an NOC “may compromise the predictability, stability and consistency of the ECB competitions”.
Stokes’ priority is understood to be helping Durham challenge to win the County Championship after playing a key part in their promotion from Division Two in the latter half of this summer, but he is keen to explore options in the MLC, which has been provisionally scheduled for June and July next year.
Under the ECB’s regulations that would not be possible, with the governing body reluctant to make an exception for Stokes that would set a precedent for other players.
The rules were primarily designed to prevent a flood of young players abandoning county cricket in favour of franchise tournaments rather than to restrict retired stars such as Stokes, but the ECB has previously rejected NOC requests from former England players.
Jason Roy and Alex Hales walked away from county-cricket contracts to pursue freelance T20 careers, while Mooen Ali also announced his retirement from domestic cricket last year before returning for a short spell with Yorkshire this summer in the T20 Blast.
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Durham are sympathetic to Stokes’ position and eager to work with him to help fulfil his franchise ambitions. The club have already discussed offering him a series of short-term contracts covering the beginning and the end of the County Championship so that the 35-year-old would effectively be a free agent during the MLC. Under ECB regulations the shortest permitted contract length is 21 days.
In another complication Stokes appears unlikely to be available for the IPL either, due to a new rule which stipulates that overseas players who have played in the competition previously must register for the mega-auction that takes place once every three years, or miss the subsequent two mini-auctions.
Stokes did not register for the 2025 IPL mega-auction due to his England commitments so will not be available until 2028, which made next year’s PSL an attractive option.
Stokes has signed one T20 franchise deal for the winter, to play for Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash, and may be available for the latter stages of South Africa’s SA20 in January, but has yet to apply for an NOC.
