Last Updated on 2 minutes ago by Charbel Coorey
Australia Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins says the report that he is considering a no-objection certificate (NOC) to play in the SA20 is untrue.
An article, published by Dan Brettig in The Age, claims Cummins is considering asking Cricket Australia (CA) for a NOC to play in the 2028 SA20 season. Also, the report reveals Cummins, along with Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, were approached to play in the 2026 Hundred competition.
Pat Cummins says news of a potential NOC for the SA20 is not true
Cummins responded to Brettig’s post on X, stating the news about the NOC and The Hundred is not correct.
“Everything you’ve written about me in this about SAT20 NOC and The Hundred offer is made up,” wrote Cummins.
“A group of senior players including captain Pat Cummins will seriously consider asking Cricket Australia for no-objection certificates to play in the SA20 in 2028 if they cannot be assured of what they see as fair market value for their services, according to two sources with knowledge of confidential discussions,” wrote Brettig in his article.
“This masthead can also reveal that Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc were approached to play in the Hundred competition this year for pre-auction signing fees of about $800,000 each. Doing so would have stopped them from playing in the Top End Test series against Bangladesh in August.”
Brettig’s article comes as noise is growing around Cricket Australia (CA) and the dilemma they face in privatising the Big Bash League (BBL). CEO Todd Greenberg is a strong believer of privatisation, but is facing pushback from Cricket NSW and Queensland Cricket regarding CA’s plan.
“There’s no doubt we could have, and should have, done a better job of the public narrative of why we’re doing private capital and why the concept of private capital is valuable for Australian cricket,” Greenberg said on SEN radio, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“I do think it’s easy to run the other argument. Because ultimately people don’t like change in any form of life, cricket particularly. Change comes hard. So on reflection, we probably could have and should have done a better job of that.”
Cummins is currently leading Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL). SRH are currently third on the points table and have aspirations of winning their second IPL title.
The Australian captain is on record of saying he aims to play as many Tests as possible in a bumper 12 months. Australia could potentially play 21 matches (if they qualify for the WTC Final) between August 2026 and August 2027, including huge tours away to India and England.

