Ollie Pope withdraws from Afghanistan Premier League draft as ECB weighs No Objection Certificates

England batter Ollie Pope has withdrawn from the draft for the inaugural Afghanistan Premier League (APL), which is set to be played in the United Arab Emirates later this year. He was due to be the only centrally contracted England player in the pool.

The draft is scheduled for Oct. 24. It is understood Pope made the decision himself, independent of the views of Rob Key, the ECB's director of cricket.

Key: 'It becomes a moral judgement'

Key spoke on Monday, Oct. 12, the day England's latest batch of contracts was confirmed. Pope received a new 12-month deal despite not playing international cricket since the third Ashes Test in Australia last December.

Key told the Test Match Special podcast that he would not play in the APL himself. But he said blocking players is another matter.

"Legally it is hard to stop players going over and playing in these competitions," Key said. "It becomes a moral judgement and players have to be prepared to take the right moral stance. Personally, and it is easy for me to say, I would not go and play. But it is down to the player to make that decision."

"I don't agree with the way women have been treated in Afghanistan," Key added. Asked whether he had made his feelings clear to Pope, he said: "I had that conversation and Ollie will have to make his decision."

Any English player needs a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the England and Wales Cricket Board to take part. As a centrally contracted player, Pope's availability would have run through Key.

The ECB's position

Cricinfo reported this month that the ECB planned to grant NOCs for the APL. ECB chair Richard Thompson said last week the board would need to "think very carefully" before doing so. He also pointed to UK restraint-of-trade law as an obstacle to refusing them.

Thompson called the Taliban's oppression of women and girls "gender apartheid" last year. The ECB has refused to schedule bilateral cricket with Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

England do still play Afghanistan at global events, including limited-overs World Cups and the Champions Trophy. That gap between a bilateral ban and ICC-tournament fixtures sits at the center of the argument.

Who else is in the draft

Geo Super reported that Will Smeed and David Willey have also pulled out. The ECB has not confirmed that.

Geo Super also noted that agents commonly register players for franchise drafts, so some cricketers may not have known they had been entered until the controversy broke.

Still entered, according to the BBC, are former England batter Dawid Malan, Moeen Ali, James Vince and Somerset's James Rew, who made his Test debut in June.

Malan has said players are caught between what is morally right and what is legal. "I have a daughter and I want her to play sport and get into sport and enjoy it. I fully understand the argument, but at the end of the day I am a cricketer and need to be able to pay my rent and be able to earn a living while I can," he told the podcast.

Malan also pointed to the inconsistency. "England don't play bilateral series against Afghanistan, but they do play them in World Cups, what's the difference?" he asked. He said players sometimes want the board to make a decision and take a stance, "then the players will buy into it."

Dean Ahmad, an agent who represents Moeen, wrote on X on Friday: "Morality in sport matters, but so does consistency. The Taliban's treatment of women is indefensible."

The political pressure

Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi led calls for England to boycott the 2025 Champions Trophy fixture against Afghanistan. In September she told BBC Sport: "Women and girls in Afghanistan are denied the same rights as those in our country, and the women's team lives in exile."

She asked whether that concerned players "especially those with daughters, sisters or mothers." She also said she hopes the International Cricket Council will refuse to sanction the event. "Continuing to allow Afghanistan full member status makes a mockery of its own membership criteria," she said.

What's next

Pope's exit removes the awkward case of a centrally contracted England player. It leaves the underlying question open. The ECB has not announced whether it will issue NOCs to players who remain in the draft, and the draft is scheduled for Oct. 24.

Thompson has said the legal exposure on restraint of trade is real. Key has said the choice rests with the player. Players such as Malan, Moeen, Vince and Rew have not announced withdrawals.