Follow UsIf there is a high-quality first-class cricketer, say, for example, Jalaj Saxena of India, and he has neither played international cricket, nor at least 20 T20s (although he has played more than 20 T20s), then he would not be able to play more than 30 days in England’s domestic cricket.
It is because of such a weird rule that English county cricket teams are planning to write to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to change the criteria from just 20 T20s to a more flexible one where first-class experience of the players is also taken into account.
According to the rule, an overseas player planning to play in England’s domestic cricket must have played at least 20 domestic T20 games in Full ICC Member nations.
If he fails to do so, then his stay in the country will be limited to a maximum of a 30-day contract with an English domestic side under the Permitted Paid Engagement (PPE) visa.
Due to this rule, many Australian players, including Fergus O'Neil who has been outstanding for Nottinghamshire in County Championship 2025, picking up 21 wickets at an average of 17.9, had to leave the country.
“We didn’t want him for T20s, we wanted him for four-day cricket. It is crazy. I have raised it with the ECB, when they look at the rules and regulations for next season. Could they look at a format-by-format qualification, rather than just using T20?” asked Mick Newell, director of cricket at Nottinghamshire, in his quote to Telegraph Sport.
A similar question was asked by Durham chairman Tim Bostock. He said, “Why would you have T20 cricket as the sole qualification to be allowed to stay longer than 30 days and play in our first-class competition?”