KENT and the 17 other first-class counties still await an England and Wales Cricket Board ruling over the eligibility of cricketers who have performed in the Indian Cricket Leagues this winter.

Close-season signings Justin Kemp and Azhar Mahmood are playing for ICL franchises, Kemp for the Hyderabad Heroes and Mahmood the Lahore Badshahs, and both could face ECB bans from county cricket for their involvement in the rebel league.

Kent’s chief executive Paul Millman said: “I’m still waiting for our player applications for Azhar and Justin to be acknowledged and processed by the ECB.

“I talk to a number of my counterparts throughout a working week and some of us are becoming increasingly concerned over the time it’s taking for the board’s decision on a number of these individual cases.

“There are a lot of counties with a lot riding on this and not much sign to an end to their decision making process.

“The nearer we get to the start of the season the more potential difficulties this presents for us.”