On Friday, the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the new central contracts where 10 players have been awarded the Test contracts and 13 players have been awarded the limited-overs contract.
The new central contracts will effect from 1 October 2018 and will run for the next 12 months. Recently international cricket debutant Sam Curran has earned the Test contract for the first time while Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid have been awarded both the Test and limited-overs contract along with Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes.
Sam Curran has impressed with his brilliant all-round performances while Buttler and Rashid have played their respective roles perfectly in the recent international cricket. Also, Sam’s elder brother Tom Curran has been awarded an Incremental contract.
ECB will pay the full salaries of the Test specialists and those players who are featuring in all formats, while the only limited-overs contracted players will receive their supplement on top of their county salary.
According to ECB official website, “Under the structure, players in both formats will receive a ‘ranking’ based on their performances on the pitch, as well as a number of other factors, including off-field contribution, fielding and fitness. Those rankings will then correlate with the level of remuneration.”
England cricket team is currently at the fourth position in the ICC Test rankings and ICC T20I rankings, but leading on the top of ICC ODI rankings.
ECB central contracts for 2018-19:
Test: Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
ODI/T20I: Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Liam Plunkett (Surrey), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)
Incremental: Tom Curran (Surrey)
