England pace-spearhead Jofra Archer has been awarded a central contract for Test and white-ball cricket for the first time after his stunning performance during the World Cup and the recently-concluded Ashes. Archer, 24, was England’s leading wicket-taker in their ICC World Cup campaign. After that, he took 22 wickets at an average of 20.27 in four Tests against Australia in the Ashes. His bowling had touched the speeds in the mid-90-miles-per-hour range in a wonderful debut international summer.
The Barbados-born player, Jofra Archer, who only became qualified to play for England earlier this year, is one of the ten players to receive a Test deal for the 2019/20 season. Another player is the opener Rory Burns, who sealed his spot at the top of the order with some good battling shows in the Ashes.
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On the other hand, spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid have lost their central Test contracts but they are in a list of 12 which also included Joe Denly, to be handed not so great white-ball deals. Moeen was dropped from the World Cup squad towards the end of the group league stage before a dismal show in the Ashes opener. He did not play in the rest of the series.
Last year, Adil Rashid was a regular for England in the Test squad but failed to keep his place during the winter tour of the West Indies and didn’t play against Australia, although he is a regular player in the white-ball set-up.
Test contracts: J. Anderson (Lancashire), J. Archer (Sussex), J. Bairstow (Yorkshire), S. Broad (Nottinghamshire), R. Burns (Surrey), J. Buttler (Lancashire), S. Curran (Surrey), J. Root (Yorkshire), B. Stokes (Durham), C. Woakes (Warwickshire).
White-ball contracts: M. Ali (Worcestershire), J. Archer (Sussex), J. Bairstow (Yorkshire), J. Buttler (Lancashire), J. Denly (Kent), E. Morgan (Middlesex), A. Rashid (Yorkshire), J. Root (Yorkshire), J. Roy (Surrey), B. Stokes (Durham), C. Woakes (Warwickshire), M. Wood (Durham).
Increment contracts: T. Curran (Surrey), J. Leach (Somerset).
