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| James Vince will no longer play in the English County Championship | Photo: Instagram |
England batter James Vince quits first-class cricket to play Pakistan Super League (PSL). He led Hampshire for 9 seasons, and will only be seen as a T20 captain in the future. The club confirmed this today.
Vince has captained English county club Hampshire in all three editions. He has a slightly smaller role at Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Karachi Kings, where he is vice-captain for the month-and-a-half-long tournament.
The reason for the sudden withdrawal of 33-year-old Vince from first-class cricket is the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) new rules on issuing no-objection certificates to players.
Last November, the ECB announced that no objection certificates would be issued to play in foreign leagues other than the IPL during the English domestic season. This led Vince and several other cricketers to take a stand against the board.
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| James Vince will play for Karachi Kings in PSL | Photo: X |
This year, the PSL will be held in April-May as the ICC Champions Trophy is in February-March. At the same time, there are also matches in England's first-class competition, the County Championship. Due to conflicting schedules, Vince had to choose one. Because the top-order batsman was contracted to Hampshire for all three versions.
If he had gone to play PSL with no objection from Ethe CB, he would have missed 6-7 matches of the County Championship. But according to the new rules of the ECB, if a cricketer who is contracted in all the editions misses the opening match, he will not be able to come back and play later. In the end, he chose PSL.
Vince won the ODI World Cup with England in 2019, said, "I love Hampshire. I've been with this club for 16 years. It's my home. So I want to give my best for Hampshire in T20 cricket.
Hopefully, we can have more success in the competition (T20 Blast). At this stage of my career, I also have to think about what is best for my family." Vince's Southampton home was attacked twice last year by miscreants. He then moved to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with his family. He is currently playing for Gulf Giants in the ILT20 there.
Before the ILT20, he played in Australia's Big Bash League. He is the only foreign batsman to score a century in this year's ILT20.
Cricket website ESPNcricinfo reported that Tom Kohler-Cadmore will follow Vince in quitting first-class cricket if he does not get a no-objection certificate from the ECB to play in the PSL. Wicketkeeper-batsman Cadmore is contracted to county club Somerset for all three editions.