No change to 2022/23 England central contract model despite high performance review suggestions

JAMES COYNE - EXCLUSIVE: Andrew Strauss, who is heading the high performance review into English men's cricket, last week issued a consultation document for consideration by the professional game, including a proposal to "evolve central contracts"

James Coyne | 02/09/2022 at 14:46

Despite the rapid changes in the global calendar unfolding this winter there will be no structural changes to England's contracts system for the 2022/23 period, The Cricketer understands.

Andrew Strauss, who is heading the high performance review into English men's cricket, last week issued a consultation document for consideration by the professional game, including a proposal to "evolve central contracts". This includes "higher allocation to multi-format players, multi-year deals" and "match fees to cover higher percentage for red and white-ball specialists".

This latter suggestion would seem to chime with several commentators, including Mike Atherton in The Times and Barney Ronay in The Cricketer magazine, who have argued for rebalancing the worth of central contracts away from the retainer aspect towards match fees – thus hopefully incentivising England-contracted players to play for England.

However, Strauss has acknowledged that most significant changes implemented as a result of his review will be deferred until 2024. On the contracts front, this would give the ECB and player representatives – the Professional Cricketers' Association and its business arm, Team England Player Partnership – the chance to look at contracts for the 2023/24 period.

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^{England's best players are in demand around the world [Getty Images]}

A PCA spokesman told The Cricketer: "Regarding 2022/23 central contracts, there are no current discussions as to structural changes, and TEPP does not foresee any changes to the contract structure for next year.

"However, central contracts have developed since their inception and will always evolve to suit the needs and best interests of players and the England cricket team."

The ECB habitually announces its raft of central contracts at the conclusion of the English season.

The ECB revamped its contracts structure only last year, ending the distinction between red and white-ball contracts, in an attempt to correct an imbalance which had seen Test players able to earn up to three times as much as white-ball players.

However, even the new structure risks looking out of date given the emergence of new franchise leagues, especially the SA20 in South Africa and the International League T20 in the UAE, which have entered the crowded market in January and February, and the release of a Future Tours Programme still crammed with international bilateral series.

English players – ECB and county-contracted – have unsurprisingly been in high demand for the two new start-up leagues, as well as the Big Bash. It seems the ECB will not stand in the way of such gigs, even with an England one-day series in South Africa set for late January. Moeen Ali has even been declared as part of both the SA20 and the ILT20, which will be played simultaneously.

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^{The PCA has confirmed there will be no central contract restructure in 2022/23 [Getty Images]}

At present, centrally contracted players are not deducted any of their ECB retainer for playing in the IPL, nor any other franchise tournaments outside the English season.

County-contracted players, meanwhile, pay back 1 per cent of their annual salary to their counties for the first 21 days at the IPL, and 0.7 per cent for subsequent days. The Professional Cricketers' Association, the players' union, confirmed to The Cricketer that it is still pushing for a further reduction to that equation "following the radical changes of the cricketing landscape since these calculations were implemented".

There was some resistance from counties in 2017/18 about players not paying back franchise fees, given that they long ago went onto 12-month contracts.