By Tom Bason
September 21 2006

The English Cricket Board have taken a seemingly huge gamble today in their decision to award central contracts to 3 of England’s injured players, Ashley Giles, Michael Vaughan and Simon Jones.

Dropped wicket-keeper Geraint Jones has not had his contract renewed, although Jones’ successor with the gloves, Chris Read has also been omitted.  Saj Mahmood, James Anderson and Liam Plunkett are the other members of the Ashes squad to be left out. Whilst Alastair Cook and Monty Panesar are both given their first contracts, it is the decision to award contracts to 3 players yet to swing a bat or bowl a ball this cricket season.  Neither Jones nor Vaughan will play any cricket this year- Jones is targeting a comeback next spring- and Giles is in a race against time to be fit for the Ashes.  Adding to the gamble is the fact that Giles’s place in the Test team is under considerable threat due to the rise of Monty Panesar.

 

The Chairman of Selectors, David Graveney defended the decision to give the injured trio contracts- "The selectors were also keen to demonstrate our support and faith in those players who are currently recovering from long-term injuries but remain an important part of our plans.".  The players are thought to be split into 3 different contract groups, with the contracts thought to be around £250,000- £400,000.  Should any of the contracted players not appear for England in the next year, this outlay from the ECB will have been wasted.

 

Central Contracts- What Are They?

Effectively, a player with a central contract is an England player who also plays for his county, rather than a county player who plays for England.  Following a restructure of central contracts in 2002 the ECB are allowed to name 20 players to be given central contracts, running from October 1^st, to September 31^st the following year.  Supplementary to this, the ECB can offer 6 month contracts the following spring.  The named players get paid a retainer by the ECB to replace the player’s county contracts, plus get all pensions and insurance covered by the ECB.  Player’s county contracts come back into effect when they are released from the central contract.  It is not just the players who benefit from central contracts- the Counties receive an estimated £2,000 per Test and £1,000 per ODI in which one of their players appears.  This is seen as an incentive for Counties to develop new youth talent, and to also try to keep hold of their international stars.

 

The Players Awarded Central Contracts

I Bell, P Collingwood, A Cook, A Giles, A Flintoff, S Harmison, M Hoggard, S Jones, K Pietersen, M Panesar, A Strauss, M Trescothick, M Vaughan.