Hampshire captain James Vince is likely to miss the 2025 County Championship after he became one of six English players picked for the Pakistan Super League.

The PSL’s one-off move from its usual February-March slot to take place between April 8 and May 19, at the same time as the Indian Premier League and the first half of the County Championship, has led to a fierce reaction as the England and Wales Cricket Board looked to protect its season by making it harder for English players to play in the tournament.

They introduced new rules around No-Objection Certificates – the documentation players need to play outside their own country – to prevent England-contracted players or red-ball county players from appearing in the tournament.

This largely led to players contracted for the County Championship choosing to forego the tournament, however Vince was retained by Karachi Kings with a deal thought to be worth around £100,000, while Somerset’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore was picked up by Peshawar Zalmi in Monday’s draft on approximately £140,000.

David Willey and Chris Jordan were retained, while Sam Billings and Tom Curran were picked up in the draft. However all four are white-ball specialists with their counties, so are unaffected by the new rules.

England international Vince is in talks with Hampshire over switching to a white-ball contract. In theory, he could represent the club in championship cricket on a pay-as-you-play basis after the PSL ends (he would miss the first seven rounds for that tournament) but it is understood there are no plans for him to play red-ball cricket this summer. Hampshire are in the process of appointing a new captain, with wicketkeeper Ben Brown the favourite. Vince will still represent Hampshire in the Vitality Blast, and will likely be retained by Southern Brave, the Hundred team based at the Utilita Bowl.

Vince revealed in an interview with Telegraph Sport last summer that his family home in Hampshire had twice been targeted by thugs in terrifying attacks, and he has spent the winter dotting from one franchise league to another. He has played in the Abu Dhabi T10, Australia’s Big Bash, and now the UAE’s ILT20.

It is unclear whether Vince is retiring from red-ball cricket for good, or just sitting out this summer, but the loss of a player of his standing is a blow to the championship. He has been a stalwart for his county for 15 seasons, averaging 41.2 in first-class cricket with 29 centuries, and captaining the side since 2016. He has played a total of 55 times for England – too few for a man of his talents in the eyes of many – but not for almost two years. The last of his 13 Test appearances came in early 2018.

Kohler-Cadmore will also need to renegotiate his Somerset deal, which is currently for all formats, if he wishes to fulfil his PSL deal. He is not such a fixture in Somerset’s team as Vince is for Hampshire, but could still turn out in the second half of the championship season on a pay-as-you-play basis.

There had been fears that the ECB’s new NoC policy would lead to a string of red-ball retirements, but the governing body may see the loss only of Vince and Kohler-Cadmore as acceptable collateral. Nottinghamshire’s Joe Clarke, who also has a full county contract, entered the draft, but was overlooked.

The ECB also banned all players with England central contracts with red-ball provision going to the PSL. This meant the likes of Jonny Bairstow – who was overlooked in the IPL auction and had been in talks with the PSL – were banned, as well as Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Gus Atkinson and Matt Potts, who it is understood tried to enter the draft.