Ben Stokes in dispute with ECB over permission to play overseas franchises next summer
Ben Stokes faces a clearance dispute with the England and Wales Cricket Board in England over potential moves to play in overseas franchise competitions next summer, the issue emerging in reports published on 26 September 2026. The row centres on whether the ECB will grant the No-Objection Certificate needed for him to join tournaments such as Major League Cricket or the Pakistan Super League 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 retains influence over his options through its control of NOCs. The board makes an exception for the Indian Premier League, but its stated 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 is understood to have held discussions with franchises in the United States’ Major League Cricket (MLC) and the Pakistan Super League (PSL) about joining them next season, but the ECB is said to be reluctant to provide the required clearance while he remains registered with Durham. That reluctance is linked to the club registration rather than his central-contract status, meaning the governing body could still block participation in competitions that overlap with county commitments.
Durham have indicated Stokes’ priority is to help their challenge for the County Championship after he played a key part in their promotion from Division Two during the latter half of this summer. The MLC has been provisionally scheduled for June and July next year, dates which under the ECB’s written rules would clash with the county season and therefore present a barrier to Stokes participating without an exemption.
The regulations were primarily framed to deter younger players abandoning county cricket for franchise tournaments rather than to restrict retired internationals, but the ECB has previously declined NOC requests involving former England players. Jason Roy and Alex Hales left county-cricket contracts to pursue freelance T20 careers, while Mooen Ali announced his retirement from domestic cricket last year before returning for a short spell with Yorkshire this summer in the T20 Blast.
Durham have discussed a plan to offer Stokes 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, with the shortest permitted contract length under ECB regulations set at 21 days. Those proposed arrangements aim to balance his county commitments with franchise opportunities but would still require ECB approval for any overseas tournament that overlaps the domestic season.
Stokes also faces a separate complication concerning the IPL: a new rule requires overseas players who have previously played in the competition to register for the mega-auction held 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 and therefore will not be available until 2028, a restriction that reportedly increased the appeal of next year’s PSL.
For the coming winter Stokes has signed a T20 franchise deal 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 he has yet to apply for an NOC.