Three Notts players among England cohort selected for controversial Afghanistan Premier League

A total of eight English players were picked in the draft for the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) on Tuesday.

The revived T20 franchise tournament is set to return on December 27th in the United Arab Emirates after an eight-year hiatus.

England players who registered their names received heavy backlash around their potential inclusion, which resulted in Ollie Pope, Will Smeed and David Willey withdrawing from the draft last month.

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Notts trio and recalled international signed up

Those who remained were up for grabs during the player draft held in Dubai which saw the five new franchise teams finalise their squads.

County Championship top run-scorer Joe Clarke was selected in the second Diamond category by Kandahar Warriors led by Ravi Bopara, with wicketkeeper Tom Moores (Team Balkh) and England Test hopeful Olly Stone (Team Paktia) also joining their Notts teammate in the league.

Former England international and T20 freelancer Alex Hales was a Platinum category pick by Nangarhar Cosmic, as was experienced all-rounder Moeen Ali who will represent Team Balkh.

Left-arm quicks Tymal Mills and Luke Wood – the latter who is in England’s T20 squad for the upcoming white-ball series in Australia – were both later chosen by Kandahar Warriors and Team Balkh respectively.

Mickey Arthur’s Team Balkh also opted for Hampshire seamer Chris Wood in the final Supplementary category.

Batter Dawid Malan, who had previously defended his decision to enter the draft, was among those who were not selected along with the likes of James Vince and Reece Topley.

Scotland opener George Munsey, Ireland all-rounder Curtis Campher and Durham’s Colin Ackermann did win deals.

There was further representation from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies across the overseas names signed.

Former Pakistan left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir was an early pick, having entered the draft as a British citizen.

Moral stance

The competition created a professional versus moral situation for any English players considering associating themselves with it, having been urged to seriously consider the potential implications of doing so.

Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, England have refused to schedule any bilateral series against Afghanistan, with ECB chair Richard Thompson referring to the Taliban government’s oppression of women and young girls in the country as “gender apartheid”.

Afghanistan’s women cricketers – who toured England in the summer –- have since been playing as an ICC-funded refugee team.

However, despite political calls for boycotts led by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, England have continued to fulfil fixtures with Afghanistan at major ICC events in the 2022 T20 World Cup, 2023 ODI World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy.

It was revealed the ECB would likely grant the necessary No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) for any players to participate due to legal issues around restraint of trade, though Thompson did suggest the board would have to “think very carefully” around the issue.

England Test batter Pope was the only centrally contracted player in the frame but pulled out of the draft list in mid-October, with England’s managing director Rob Key – who himself said he would not play in the league – understood to have had a conversation with the 28-year-old but also stated it is “down to the player to make that decision”.

The inaugural APL is still yet to be sanctioned by the ICC, with only three of the five franchise teams currently sold.

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