In an effort to stop IPL franchises’ attempt to lure England’s top cricketers, the England Cricket Board (ECB) have handed three-year central contracts as part of a new multi-year system on Tuesday.
England’s Harry Brook, Joe Root and Mark Wood have been handed three-year central contracts, while Ben Stokes have been handed a 1-year contract by the board. Meanwhile, England’s white-ball skipper Jos Buttler has been given a two-year contract.
“The system, which covers both red-ball and white-ball players, considers the likelihood of players featuring in England teams across formats over the next period while recognising performances in the preceding year,” the ECB said in a statement.”
“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.”
Brook, 24, is among seven players to have been given a central contract for the first time along with Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue – who have all got two-year contracts.
“We are rewarding those players who we expect to make a significant impact over the coming years playing for England,” said Rob Key, managing director of England men’s cricket.
ECB vs IPL Franchises
This the first time the English board has handed a multi-year contract since it was established in 2000. The reason behind the change has been due to IPL franchises who are trying to a lucrative multi-million pound yearly contracts to English players.
Earlier this year, a report in the ‘Times London’ claimed that several IPL franchises had offered multi-million pound yearly contracts to six prominent England cricketers, with a condition for them to ditch their national teams.
The contracted players will not just play in the IPL but will also participate in other overseas tournaments, including SAT20 in South Africa, Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in West Indies, Global T20 League in UAE and other leagues.
“Initial discussions have taken place after at least six English players, including some international stars, were approached by IPL franchise owners and asked whether, in principle, they would accept a deal that would make an Indian team their main employer, rather than the ECB or an English county,” read the report.
But with the new multi-year contract ECB have given their players some sense of security which might prompt the players to pick national duties over franchises.
ENGLAND CONTRACTS:
Three-year contracts: Harry Brook, Joe Root, Mark Wood
Two-year contracts: Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, 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
One-year contracts: Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley
Development contracts: Matthew Fisher, Saqib Mahmood, John Turner
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