Uncapped Crocombe wins two-year deal as ECB confirms central contracts

England have handed an unprecedented two-year deal to the uncapped seamer Henry Crocombe and added seven new players to their full contract list. The ECB announced its biggest-ever pool of centrally contracted players on Monday, with only two players losing full deals on performance grounds.

The international retirements of two high-earners in Ben Stokes and Mark Wood have enabled the ECB to offer 39 contracts - 30 full deals and nine development contracts - for the 2026-27 cycle, up from 30 in 2025-26. Only two other players who had full contracts last year have dropped off the list altogether: former Test opener Zak Crawley and left-arm seamer Luke Wood.

Surrey saw off significant competition to sign Crocombe from Sussex ahead of next season but will not end up paying his salary as a result of his new ECB deal. He has already featured in England Test and ODI squads but is the first men's player to sign a multi-year central contract before making their international debut.

Most of Crocombe's success to date has come in red-ball cricket, and he took 40 wickets at 23.52 - including two hat-tricks - in Division One of the County Championship this season. But he declared his wider ambitions at the Toyota PCA Awards this month, saying: "I'd like to really move my white-ball game up going forward, so I can be available in all formats for England."

Rob Key, England's managing director, instigated a shift to multi-year central contracts in 2023 to stave off the threat of players turning down international call-ups in order to play year-round franchise cricket. "The upside far outweighs the downside on these contracts," he insisted on Monday, when defending his decision to offer two-year deals to some unproven players.

Key said that the contract structure allowed England to make "longer-term bets" on some players, and said that it would enable the ECB to "map out the next two years" for them. He also said that the shift in the contract system had helped England avoid losing players over the last three years. "I think we might have done had we not had that, but that's my opinion," he said.

Nine players who were under contract last year have signed extensions that mean their deals now expire in September 2028. These are: Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Joe Root and Josh Tongue.

Five others - Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Adil Rashid and Jamie Smith - are moving into the second year of existing two-year contracts. These run until the end of England's 2027 home summer, which features a home Ashes series, a one-off Test against Bangladesh, and white-ball series against Pakistan and New Zealand.

Carse remains subject to an investigation by the Cricket Regulator after he was briefly arrested outside a nightclub in Derby this summer, and has not been picked for England in any format since. "I don't see, at the moment, anything to suggest that he won't continue on that contract," Key said, "but we'll find out more as it [the investigation] goes on."

Key said that the ECB's management had "debated and deliberated long and hard" about whether to offer certain players longer deals, and decided that one-year contracts would "get the best" out of Duckett, Smith and Robinson. He added that Buttler and Rashid remain "desperate" to play for England despite their contracts expiring shortly before next year's World Cup.

Cricinfo revealed last week that Shoaib Bashir had been offered a one-year extension despite playing only two Tests in the last contract year, while seven other players' contracts have also been renewed until next September. These are: Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson, Saqib Mahmood, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts and Phil Salt.

The ECB's agreement with the Team England Player Partnership means that there is a fixed sum available for central contracts every year, which must be spent fully. "You try and find out a way where you think you are paying what each player's worth," Key said. "When you lose a few big-name players, that releases more money to be able to use in different ways."

Eight players have also been awarded development contracts, which see the ECB take responsibility for half of a player's existing county salary and provide a 25% top-up. They are: James Coles, Mason Crane, Josh Hull, Eddie Jack, Ben McKinney, Liam Patterson-White, Thomas Rew, Matthew Revis and Mitchell Stanley.

England's management intend to use these deals to strengthen the Lions programme, since they will embolden the ECB to pull players on development contracts out of county cricket or franchise leagues. "It's been great to see these players committing to those contracts, knowing full well that if we pick them in Lions cricket, then we'll expect them to play in that," Key said.

England's white-ball squad will fly to Pakistan on Thursday for their upcoming ODI tri-series, which also features Sri Lanka, ahead of their opening game next Tuesday. After the series, they will travel to Australia in November for three ODIs and five T20Is, with the ECB due to announce a squad for that tour on Tuesday.

England central contracts

Two-year contracts: Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Henry Crocombe, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Joe Root, Josh Tongue (to 30 September 2028)

One-year contracts: Rehan Ahmed, Tom Banton, Shoaib Bashir, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Ollie Robinson, Phil Salt, Jamie Smith (to 30 September 2027)

Development contracts: James Coles, Mason Crane, Josh Hull, Eddie Jack, Ben McKinney, Liam Patterson-White, Thomas Rew, Matthew Revis, Mitchell Stanley (to 30 September 2027)

No longer contracted: Zak Crawley, Tom Lawes (development), Ben Stokes (retired), Luke Wood, Mark Wood (retired).