For the first time ever, the England and Wales Cricket Board has handed out multi-year central contracts to its cricketers amidst the ever-rising popularity of franchise cricket around the world. "The ECB has worked closely with the Professional Cricketers' Association and Team England Player Partnership on behalf of the players to reach an outcome for all parties," the board said in a statement.
18 players have signed multi-year deals, whereas eight more players have signed the usual annual contract. Three more have been handed England Development contracts by the board.
Rising star Harry Brook, former Test captain Joe Root and pacer Mark Wood have signed three-year central contracts. This is the first time Brook has been offered a ECB central contract. The likes of Jofra Archer, limited-overs skipper Jos Buttler, wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow, latest pace sensation Gus Atkinson are amongst the 15 players to have signed two-year deals.
Surprisingly, Test skipper Ben Stokes has signed only a 12-month deal with the ECB. Apart from Stokes, veteran James Anderson and allrounder Moeen Ali are among eight players to have signed the annual contract. Dawid Malan, who missed out last year, has been rewarded with an annual contract this time. However, David Willey has been omitted despite being a part of the squad that's present in India for the ongoing ODI World Cup.
Matthew Fisher, Saqib Mahmood and uncapped John Turner are the three players who have been handed development contracts.
ECB three-year central contracts:Harry Brook, Joe Root, Mark Wood
ECB two-year central contracts:Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes
ECB one-year central contracts:Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley
England Development contracts: Matthew Fisher, Saqib Mahmood, John Turner