Olly Stone — England’s 94 mph fast bowler, in a spin-heavy attack

Genuine pace, bought in the Silver round

Oliver Peter Stone was born in Norwich, Norfolk, on 9 October 1993. He is six foot three, bats right-handed, bowls right-arm fast, and plays county cricket for Nottinghamshire. Paktia picked him in the Silver category at the Dubai draft on 3 November 2026, for a reported $20,000.

He joins a nineteen-player squad captained by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, with Azhar Mahmood as head coach and Waqar Younis as mentor, and he will bowl alongside a spin attack led by Wanindu Hasaranga and Noor Ahmad. In a Paktia attack built around wrist spin, Stone is the new-ball pace option and the enforcer in the middle overs — the bowler Gurbaz can turn to when a partnership needs breaking.

One thing about Stone’s place in the side is not yet settled. When the draft took place, the ICC had not granted the league its sanction, and ESPNcricinfo reported on 4 November 2026 that the involvement of the eight English players picked — Stone among them — depended on it. The ECB is expected to issue No-Objection Certificates to its players, but until the ICC approves the tournament, Stone’s Paktia contract is a draft pick rather than a confirmed appearance. This page will be updated when the sanction decision is published.

Three wickets on Test debut, and a 50-wicket summer

Stone’s first Test wicket was worth the wait. On his Test debut against Ireland at Lord’s in July 2019, Ireland had bowled England out for 85 and reached 132 for 3 when Stone uprooted Andy Balbirnie’s middle stump with an 89 mph inswinger, the top-scorer gone for 55. Four balls later Gary Wilson fended a sharp delivery to Joe Root at slip for a duck. He finished with 3 for 29.

He has 17 Test wickets at 23.52 in five matches, and his white-ball record is modest — nine ODI wickets at 44.33 — so Paktia are betting on his pace and his 2026 red-ball form translating to T20, rather than on a long T20 record. His T20 career so far reads 120 wickets in 122 matches at 28.39, with a best of 4 for 14, and he has never taken a five-wicket haul in international cricket.

He did not play in the first APL season in 2018 — he appears in none of that season’s squads — so 2026-27 is his APL debut, eight years after Balkh Legends beat Kabul Zwanan in the only final the league has played.

No APL numbers yet — a debut at thirty-three

Stone has no APL figures yet. He did not play in 2018, and the 2026-27 season has not started, so his numbers will be filled in once the matches are played.

2026-27 figures will be added here once the matches are played. His appearance is subject to the ICC sanction decision and an ECB No-Objection Certificate.

Pace, and a different question for batters

What Paktia have bought is genuine pace. Stone has been clocked at 94 mph, and on UAE pitches that have something in them early, he is the man who can take the top order out before the spinners even start.

He is also the bowler for the days when the pitch flattens out. When wrist spin has nothing to work with, a fast bowler who hits the deck hard and bowls at the body is the one who can still make something happen. That is the bet Paktia made with a Silver pick.

A new club, a blank record

Five teams chase four playoff places in APL 2026-27, so one side goes home after the league stage. Each team plays eight league matches — each opponent twice — and a win is worth two points. The table is empty because the season has not started: every team begins on zero points, and the first update comes after Match 1 on 27 December 2026, when the first ball is bowled at 5:30 PM Afghanistan time (5:00 PM Dubai time) in the UAE. The final is on Wednesday 20 January 2027.

Paktia are a new club for 2026-27, not a continuation of the 2018 Paktia Panthers. The APL T20 season starts on 27 December 2026 in the UAE, and Stone’s first appearance, if the sanction and his No-Objection Certificate come through, will be his first in the league.