England players under central contracts will no longer be banned by the ECB from speaking to the media for their counties
Sky Sports News understands that English cricket's governing body have not placed a blanket ban on players speaking to the media but want to ensure that Rob Key and Richard Gould address the media first and have put in place this temporary measure to protect the players
Thursday 12 March 2026 22:33, UK
The ECB have now lifted a temporary ban that prevented centrally contracted England players from speaking to the media for their counties.
England players are set to be available to media without restriction.
English cricket's governing body initially wanted to ensure that Rob Key, England's managing director of men's cricket, and Richard Gould, the ECB's chief executive, could address the media first and so put in place a temporary measure that prevented centrally contracted players from speaking to the media for their counties and discussing the Ashes.
However, the players will now be made available independent of Key and Gould's media engagements which are set to take place in the coming weeks.
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It was thought that the ECB did not want to put players in a situation where they were discussing the tour and the future of the coaching staff.
Surrey's media day takes place on March 17, however, the majority of other counties are holding access later this month and in April.
England and head coach Brendan McCullum have been under intense scrutiny after a disastrous Ashes campaign, which only heightened after news filtered out regarding off-field incidents.
ECB bosses are still conducting a formal review into what went wrong in Australia, but McCullum is expected to remain in post and get the chance to lead the Test team into a home Ashes in 2027.
England did reach the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup where they lost narrowly to hosts India.
McCullum previously told Sky Sports: "I feel we have achieved some really cool things over the last few years but there is still so much to achieve with the side, across all formats.
"[They'll have] a bit of time to reflect, to let things land and objectively look at what is and isn't working."
