Ollie Pope has pulled out of the Afghanistan Premier League T20 draft, which will be held on October 24, 2026. Will Smeed and David Willey made separate withdrawals as concerns grew over the likely involvement of English players in the contest.
The decision was made byOllie Pope before Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket, spoke about it on Monday morning. Key forced the English players to reflect about the moral consequences of their choices.
It is hard to forbid people to take part in these events by legal means. It’s a moral decision and the participants need to be ready to make the right moral judgment. “It’s easy for me to say I wouldn’t go and play in it but at the end of the day it’s down to the player,” Key remarked on BBC Test Match Special.
Ollie Pope, who has just signed a new one-year core contract, was England captain as recently as last summer.
Why did the ECB come under scrutiny for giving NOCs for APL?
The ECB has had a long-standing policy of refusing to play bilateral matches against Afghanistan in protest at the Afghan government’s restrictions on women playing sport, but was prepared to provide No-Objection Certificates for the APL. The disparity between the two positions drew much public notice and raised worries about the consistency of the board.
Since agents routinely sign players up for franchise league drafts without their direct input, some players may have only learned of their enrollment after public criticism. Labor MP Tonia Antoniazzi was one of many to express alarm and her comments added to the political tone of the debate.
Which English players are still in the draft? How is the APL going at the moment?
The APL will debut in the United Arab Emirates on December 27, 2026. Whether the competition is sustainable remains to be seen. Three of the five scheduled clubs are said to have been sold, with one source saying the existence of the league was “touch and go”.
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Dawid Malan is another England player who is still available in the draft. Malan said he was waiting for guidance from the ICC and ECB on how to proceed, rather than simply pulling out. It is not known how many England players will remain on the list ahead of October 24, or if there would be further withdrawals from the draft after Pope, Smeed and Willey.
