County news

ECB rejects five ICL players

Cricinfo staff

March 20, 2008

	Wavell Hinds will not feature for Derbyshire this season © Getty Images

Five foreign players, each of whom applied to join counties as Kolpaks, have been refused registration by the ECB. Wavell Hinds (Derbyshire), Johan van der Wath (Northamptonshire), Andrew Hall (Northamptonshire), Hamish Marshall (Gloucestershire) and Justin Kemp (Kent) - who coincidentally are all signed-up members of the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) - will play no part for their respective counties all season.

The situation is muddied by the Kolpak issue. Any cricketer who has played cricket (domestic or international) in another country 12 months prior to their Kolpak application can be turned away, at the ECB's discretion. But in recent years, this stipulation has been waived several times, which has led to a number of counties expanding their squads with experienced internationals and former internationals. Now, however, with the ICL alive and kicking, the ECB has chosen not to exercise its discretion, which could be seen as sanctioning an event not officially recognised by the ICC.

"We are obviously very disappointed that Wavell will be unable to join us this season," Tom Sears, Derbyshire's chief executive, said. "While we support the ECB's stance on unsanctioned events we can fully understand why Wavell has accepted the Indian Cricket League offer.

"Now we have a definitive decision we can turn our attention to securing a replacement and we can assure our members and supporters that we have the resources to compete for the very best players that are available."

"It was something we expected and has been on the cards for a few days now," Mark Tagg, Northamptonshire's chief executive, told Cricinfo.

The ICL signings have caused confusion for weeks. The county circuit has two captains who are also part of the ICL - Dale Benkenstein (Durham) and Nicky Boje (Northamptonshire) - but they are expected to play because they are already registered and no retrospective action will be taken by the ECB.

© Cricinfo

Add to del.icio.us | digg this | Stumble It What's this? If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content on cricket, you may use these buttons. When you add them to any of these sites, you "social bookmark" them for others to find and rate. More on del.icio.us>> More on digg>> More on stumbleupon>> Close

England v New Zealand fantasy cricket now available Enter your teams here Cricinfo Magazine online - our new home for features and comment Ask Steven, Numbers Game & more Cricinfo on the go - our mobile services WAP, Genie and Mobicast

Stories

ECB faces legal action over player ban

Counties face nervous wait over ICL players

ICL gear up for legal battle

Clarke eases fears over IPL poaching

ECB braced for legal action

ICL-county situation as clear as mud

Players/Umpires

Andrew Hall

Wavell Hinds

Justin Kemp

Hamish Marshall

Johan van der Wath

Teams

Derbyshire

England

Gloucestershire

Kent

Northamptonshire

West Indies