The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced an expanded list of 30 centrally contracted players for the 2026-27 season, alongside nine players on development contracts.
Seven players have received central contracts for the first time: Tom Banton, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Henry Crocombe, Emilio Gay, Matthew Fisher and Dan Lawrence. Ollie Robinson has also returned to the list after previously holding a central contract in 2022 and 2023.
Sonny Baker has been upgraded to a two-year deal, while Cox and Crocombe have also signed two-year contracts. Eleven players in total have agreements running until September 30, 2028.
The central contracts list includes senior players Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Ben Duckett, Adil Rashid and Jamie Smith.
Meanwhile, six players have signed their first England development contracts, including James Coles, Mason Crane, Ben McKinney, Liam Patterson-White, Thomas Rew and Matthew Revis. Rew, 18, is the youngest player on the development list after captaining England’s Young Lions to the Under-19 World Cup final earlier this year.
The ECB said contracts covering both red-ball and white-ball cricket consider players’ prospects across formats and their performances over the past year.
England have also confirmed changes to their coaching structure. Mike Yardy will serve as elite national batting lead, while Richard Dawson takes on the elite national spin bowling role. Troy Cooley continues as elite national pace bowling lead.
Stephen Fleming’s Test coaching staff will include Dawson, Marcus Trescothick, James Foster and Eric Simons. Brendon McCullum’s white-ball team will feature Sarah Taylor, Jeetan Patel and Tim Southee, with Kevin Pietersen serving as mentor.
The coaching teams will take charge for England’s upcoming Test tour of South Africa and white-ball tour of Australia.