ECB Announce Updated Regulations for England Availability

The Board of the ECB today discussed and agreed updated regulations for qualification to play international cricket for England.

Following discussions as part of the ongoing CPA process, it was felt the revised criteria needed to:

• Bring the ECB regulations closer to those of the ICC, after the amendments made to their own regulations earlier this year
• Provide a level of fairness for individual players affected by the previous regulations

The new ECB eligibility criteria for players, both men and women, from 1 January 2019, are:

a) British Citizenship and,

b) Either born in England/Wales, or 3 years residence (a total of 210 days/year April-March) and

c) Not played as a local player in professional international or domestic cricket in a Full Member country within the last 3 years

For comparison, the current ICC eligibility criteria for all players, is:

a) British citizenship; or

b) Born in England/Wales; or

c) 3 years residence (on a rolling basis) and not having played for another Full Member country in the past 3 years

The previous ECB eligibility criteria for male players was:

a) British citizenship; and

b) Either born in England/Wales, or 7-year residence if moving from a Full Member County and arriving after 18th birthday, or 4 years if moving from an Associate Member County or arriving before 18th birthday (residence=210 day/year April-March); and

c) Not played as a local player in professional international or domestic cricket in a full member country within 4/7 years

The text of the new regulations will be published in due course, alongside other 2019 ECB regulations.