The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has today confirmed the award of Central Contracts for England Men's Test and White Ball cricket. The contracts cover a 12-month period commencing 1 October 2020.
ECB are responsible for the England Men’s Central Contract system and have developed it in consultation with Team England Player Partnership (TEPP), which is the body that represents the England Men’s players. The system aims to fairly reward all of those who represent England Men in different formats during a Contract year.
The selectors have awarded 12 Test Central Contracts (an increase of 2 on last year) and 12 White Ball Central Contracts, as well as 4 Increment Contracts and 3 Pace Bowling Development Contracts.
Final details of the contracts have still to be confirmed, however the players’ salaries are likely to be reduced with the game’s finances being uncertain due the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Centrally contracted players have already handed back £500,000 earlier this year.
At the start of central contracts 20 years ago top-tier county and international salaries were both around £60,000. Under the previous deal, the contracts for the multi-format contracted players (Root, Stokes, Woakes, Buttler and Archer) were expected to reach £1 million for the first time. The highest salaried county cricketer this year earned about £170,000.
TV broadcast money has been the main factor in the increases. Sky won the rights to televise home international cricket in 2005 and there has since been huge wage inflation for centrally contracted players to reflect the new £1.1 billion television deal (2020-24). The top Test contracts rose from £475,000 to £650,000 and top white-ball contracts increased from £175,000 to £275,000.
In contrast Australian men’s remuneration is set at 26 per cent of the game’s revenues. This is good when revenues have risen, but with Cricket Australia forecasting a 50 per cent drop this winter, the players will take a hit.
ECB contracts have been awarded to the following players:
Test Central Contracts
James Anderson (Lancashire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Sam Curran (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).
White Ball Central Contracts
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Tom Curran (Surrey), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).
Increment Contracts
Dom Bess (Somerset), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Jack Leach (Somerset).
Pace Bowling Development Contracts
Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Craig Overton (Somerset), Olly Stone (Warwickshire).
John Stephenson
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