England central contracts 2026-27: 30 deals, 11 running to 2028

England have awarded 30 central contracts for 2026-27, and only 11 of them run beyond September 2027. The England central contracts list, published by the ECB on Monday, carries nine development deals as well. That takes the number of contracted men's players to 39. Seven of the 30 are first-time recipients. Zak Crawley appears on neither list.

Ben Stokes and Mark Wood have retired from international cricket and come off the register. Luke Wood also loses his deal. Tom Lawes drops off the development list. IANS reported the change as a rise from 30 contracted players in 2025-26 to 39 this time.

Eleven deals that run to 2028

The two-year contracts expire on 30 September 2028. Every other central deal on the list ends a year earlier. These are the 11.

• Jofra Archer
• Gus Atkinson
• Sonny Baker
• Jacob Bethell
• Harry Brook
• Jordan Cox
• Henry Crocombe
• Sam Curran
• Will Jacks
• Joe Root
• Josh Tongue

Crocombe is the one uncapped name among them. He goes straight onto the longer term. Sonny Baker has been upgraded to a two-year deal after holding a shorter one. Three of the 11 are Surrey players: Atkinson, Curran and Jacks. Two more come from Yorkshire, and Sussex and Hampshire have one each.

The single-year group

The remaining 19 central contracts run to 30 September 2027. Several of them, including Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Adil Rashid and Jamie Smith, are serving the second year of an existing agreement rather than starting a fresh one. Both tiers are dated to the end of September. The contract year therefore closes with the English season.

• 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

That is the number worth holding on to. Nineteen of England's 30 contracted players are signed for one more year only. The one-year tier is where most of the squad sits, at 19 names against 11 on the longer term.

First contracts for seven players

Tom Banton, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Henry Crocombe, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay and Dan Lawrence have never held a central contract before. Cox and Crocombe went straight to the two-year tier. The other five are on single-year terms. IANS reported that eight players who had no deal in 2025-26 are contracted this time.

Ollie Robinson is the eighth. He held central contracts in 2022 and 2023, lost his place on the list, and is back on a one-year deal with Sussex.

Zak Crawley is absent from both tiers. So is Luke Wood. Tom Lawes no longer holds a development contract. Ben Stokes and Mark Wood have retired from international cricket, which accounts for two of the places freed up. IANS reported that those two retirements freed up funds. The list has grown to 39 names in all.

Surrey supply the largest county block

Eight of the 30 central contracts on the ECB list belong to Surrey players. Durham, Lancashire and Yorkshire have three each. Essex, Hampshire, Nottinghamshire and Sussex have two apiece, and Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Somerset and Warwickshire one each. Crocombe is the thirtieth, listed against both Sussex and Surrey.

No other county has more than three. Counting the development tier as well, 13 of the 18 first-class counties are represented. Gloucestershire, Kent, Middlesex, Northamptonshire and Worcestershire have nobody on either list. Glamorgan appear only through Mason Crane.

The development tier

Nine players hold development contracts to 30 September 2027. Six of them are new to the tier: Coles, Crane, McKinney, Patterson-White, Rew and Revis.

• James Coles
• Mason Crane
• Josh Hull
• Eddie Jack
• Ben McKinney
• Liam Patterson-White
• Thomas Rew
• Matthew Revis
• Mitch Stanley

Josh Hull, Eddie Jack and Mitch Stanley are the three retained from last year. The tier sits below a central contract and above a county deal alone.

The dates do the rest of the talking. Nineteen of the 30 central deals expire inside 12 months, and nine development deals go with them. For counties that means one availability picture for the 2027 season and an open question after it.