England to ban players from franchise leagues suspected of corruption

Exclusive: Concerns grow about ‘double dipping’ – whereby players join another competition after being on a losing side to earn more money

England will ban players from competitions which are suspected of corruption and will also move to prevent cricketers from entering new franchise leagues after teams have been eliminated from other tournaments played at the same time.
A special report by Telegraph Sport on Tuesday highlighted concerns about cricket’s saturated schedule, ‘double dipping’ – whereby defeat for a team in one competition can open the door for players to then join another tournament and potentially earn even more money – and the risks of corruption. 
Richard Gould, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has declared that the governing body plans to take major action to help to regulate the game and will no longer issue No Objection Certificates to players planning to appear in leagues suspected of containing corrupt elements.
“We will take a more protective line with our players, particularly if we perceive that there’s a risk of corruption,” Gould told Telegraph Sport. “When we see competitions that we’re concerned about, then we won’t issue NOCs for those competitions, irrespective of whether they’ve been sanctioned by the ICC or not.
“If people are operating competitions where there is perceived to be a risk of corruption – either through betting patterns or a lack of operating control – we’ve all got a responsibility to make sure that players are not put into difficult circumstances – difficult and dangerous circumstances, perhaps.
“There are a number of players that play in our off-season in a variety of competitions – and many of them are very well-run. Some of them are not – and for those, I think we will have to take a view on to protect our players and to protect the integrity of the game.”
In 2023, 74 England-qualified men’s players appeared in franchise tournaments around the world – comfortably a record of any country. The number is expected to increase this year. While welcoming the involvement of English players in leading leagues, Gould said that the ECB had to ensure that they were not involved in leagues that featured corrupt activity.
“We are currently reviewing our NOC policy, partly because there are competitions that are more at risk from either poor operating procedures or possibly corruption, and we may well have to take a view on some of those competitions going forward.”
Telegraph Sport’s report also highlighted the phenomenon of double dipping. After players are knocked out of a tournament, many move on to other tournaments being played in parallel – so they are effectively paid by two different competitions at the same time.
Gould admitted that he was concerned about this growing trend, and said that the ECB could seek to prevent players from moving between leagues in this way. The ECB could stop issuing NOCs to players in such situations – for instance, when players knocked out of the Big Bash early sign replacement contracts in the SA20 league.
“We’re going to have to stop that by being more rigid on our NOCs,” Gould said. “I think it would be unwise for players to be able to go and compete in an overlapping tournament, in the way that we’ve seen in the past. That is not appropriate.
“As a game, we need to find ways to prevent it. In the first instance, the players can choose to do the sensible thing themselves. When there are overlapping tournaments, I think we’ll incorporate that with the NOC policy change to ensure that that doesn’t happen. If there is clearly an overlapping tournament, then we shouldn’t be issuing an NOC to enable that.”
More than 20 short-format leagues featuring significant overseas talent – played over 10 overs, 20 overs or 100 balls – are taking place in men’s cricket across the world this year.
Telegraph Sport highlighted that a number of these leagues lose money, adding to fears about potential corruption from either owners or players. Gould believes that not all of these tournaments will be sustainable.
“Not all these competitions are going to be viable in the long-term,” he said. “I wonder if the elasticity has been stretched or is about to be stretched to the maximum – particularly those competitions that take place in an area where there is no significant domestic broadcast interest or attendances. 
“Those ones, you just wonder how they’re going to be sustainable beyond either the largesse of a sponsor, or gambling links, which are far from ideal. There may well be a rationalisation that happens at some point over the next couple of years.”
England legend Kevin Pietersen also reacted to Telegraph Sport’s report, sharing a graphic showing the saturated schedule. He slammed the “mad” state of cricket on X, warning that “international cricket is on its way out”.
Pietersen unveiled a plan to save the game that would include players being contracted to ‘super clubs’ – most likely, those owned by Indian Premier League franchises – playing in multiple leagues. He called on a separate governing body to be created to govern the T20 landscape. 
“Governing body can protect players from being called mercenaries through smart scheduling and building the global leagues,” he wrote.