Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Should be announced before the end of the season. Of the 19 players listed in the "availability for the rest of the season" list and presumably they'll be all the ones on England's radar at present only Anderson, Bell, Bopara, Broad, Bresnan, Cook and Root are presently on any form of central contract. Normally there are 12-14 awarded.
Ideas,suggestions?

I imagine Tim Bresnan will lose his central contract and Stokes and Ballance gain one but I can't see many more than that unless Morgan is upgraded from his incremental contract. Most others are too new to the England set up to warrant central contracts.

What would happen if a player refused a central contract ???

Might be a time for England to give 15-20 central contracts with grades in it.
All other countries do it now.
I find it laughable that players with central contracts might not even be in the team 7-8 months in the future like what happened last year.

this would be my list for Central Contracts.

Cook
Ballance
Bell
Root
Moeen Ali
Buttler
Woakes
Jordan
Broad
Anderson
Plunkett
Robson?
Morgan?

bhaveshgor wrote:this would be my list for Central Contracts.

Cook
Ballance
Bell
Root
Moeen Ali
Buttler
Woakes
Jordan
Broad
Anderson
Plunkett
Robson?
Morgan?

Only a few days ago Woakes was awarded an incremental contract for the first time so he wont be considered and if he isn't Ali, Jordan, Plunkett and Robson are unlikely also. Buttler is a strong candidate though.

Central contracts are only given to Test players.
I think 3 new ones will be Buttler, Ali and Ballance to replace Swann, Pietersen and Prior. Maybe Stokes or Woakes would get Bresnan's. Would Trott lose his?

Can't see Stokes getting a full contract.

Don't think England have been impressed with him at test level this summer despite him batting at 8 and 9.


Saturday showed what he can do when he gets his eye in, even if it was a one day game.

ECB contracts are awarded annually and current recipients are (ECB media release 20th Oct. 2013)
The players awarded contracts for the period October 1 2013 to September 30 2014 are: James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Kevin Pietersen (Surrey), Matt Prior (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire) and Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire).
Additionally Bopara,Tredwell and Wright and Woakes have been awarded incremental contracts at different times since.

Maybe Moores will feed the info of who has played into his laptop and pick the top twelve?

I too this from the PCA web site:

The ECB awards up to sixteen Central Contracts of 12 months duration, with the contract period running from 1 October to 30 September. Contracts are only offered to those players whom the ECB Board believe will play a major role in England’s activities in the year ahead.

For players holding a 12-month Central Contract, an England retainer replaces their County salary, with the County retaining the player’s registration. If the player is made available to his County, this will be on a free-of-charge basis.

The ECB may offer additional 12-month contracts, known as Increment Contracts. Likely recipients include those players who would be expected to feature regularly in the England ODI and/or T20 teams, but who are not well-established in the Test team. With England Increment Contracts, the County continues to pay the player’s salary, with ECB paying the player an incremental salary. The County receives compensation from the ECB for matches missed while on England duty.

Additional Increment Contracts can be automatically earned by players by accumulating points for England appearances throughout the contract year. Five appearance points are awarded for a Test appearance, and two for an ODI or T20 appearance, with an Increment Contract awarded to any player accumulating twenty appearance points.

Any player selected to tour that does not have a Central or an Increment Contract will be awarded a Tour Contract. Tour and match fees paid to any England player are the same, with differences in reward being determined by the value of the Central Contract or Increment Contract retainer.

Aidan11 wrote:Can't see Stokes getting a full contract.

Don't think England have been impressed with him at test level this summer despite him batting at 8 and 9.


Saturday showed what he can do when he gets his eye in, even if it was a one day game.

He really needs to bat in the top 6, don't think he looks at all comfortable down the order. How he fits into the test top 6 is another matter.

captaincolly wrote:

Aidan11 wrote:Can't see Stokes getting a full contract.

Don't think England have been impressed with him at test level this summer despite him batting at 8 and 9.


Saturday showed what he can do when he gets his eye in, even if it was a one day game.

He really needs to bat in the top 6, don't think he looks at all comfortable down the order. How he fits into the test top 6 is another matter.

Going on the post 2 back Ben must already qualify for an incremental contract and I'm not aware that he's been given one. His England batting displays have been abysmal but I think the fact that the ECB have so readily released him from England duties to play for Durham indicates how keen they are for him to regain batting form. Saturday won't have done his prospects any harm nor will some big innings in the next few matches-HQ this week wouldn't b a bad place to start.

tweet from Nick Hault.

Ballance for Trott, Moeen for Swann, Buttler for Prior.
Possibly Woakes for Bresnan given he plays all fomrats? And Plunkett for Finn?

If Bresnan gets a central contract that would be a disgrace.
I know many people like Bresnan here but is he really in England first team plans in all formats or more importantly the Test Team.

Be interesting if Robson gets a contract or only Cook gets it which would mean England are not sure on the opener yet.

bhaveshgor wrote:tweet from Nick Hault.

Ballance for Trott, Moeen for Swann, Buttler for Prior.
Possibly Woakes for Bresnan given he plays all fomrats? And Plunkett for Finn?

If Bresnan gets a central contract that would be a disgrace.
I know many people like Bresnan here but is he really in England first team plans in all formats or more importantly the Test Team.

Be interesting if Robson gets a contract or only Cook gets it which would mean England are not sure on the opener yet.

cant see any way robson gets a central contract and will be very surprised if Lyth isn't opening with cook in the WI in april