The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has enlarged its list of centrally contracted players to 30 for the 2026-27 campaign. Nine more players have been placed on development contracts.
The board said seven players are receiving a central deal for the first time, among them Tom Banton, Sam Cook and Dan Lawrence. Ollie Robinson is back on the list after holding a central contract in 2022 and 2023.
Longer deals and senior names on the England list
Sonny Baker has moved up to a two-year agreement, and Jordan Cox and Henry Crocombe have also signed two-year terms. In total, eleven players are contracted through to 30 September 2028.
The list also features senior players including Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Ben Duckett, Adil Rashid and Jamie Smith.
Six players have signed their first England development contracts: James Coles, Mason Crane, Ben McKinney, Liam Patterson-White, Thomas Rew and Matthew Revis. Rew, aged 18, is the youngest on that list, after he skippered the Young Lions into the Under-19 World Cup final this year.
The ECB said the contracts cover red-ball and white-ball cricket and weigh each player’s prospects across formats, as well as their performances over the past year.
England coaching changes ahead of South Africa and Australia tours
England have also altered their coaching set-up. Mike Yardy becomes elite national batting lead, Richard Dawson takes the elite national spin bowling role, and Troy Cooley stays on as elite national pace bowling lead.
Stephen Fleming’s Test staff will include Dawson, Marcus Trescothick, James Foster and Eric Simons. Brendon McCullum’s white-ball group features Sarah Taylor, Jeetan Patel and Tim Southee, with Kevin Pietersen acting as mentor. Both teams will take charge for England’s upcoming Test tour of South Africa and white-ball tour of Australia.
