England central contracts 2026-27: 30 players, uncapped Henry Crocombe gets a two-year deal

England's 30 centrally contracted players

England central contracts 2026-27 were announced on Monday 12 October: 30 players on full central contracts and nine on development deals, 39 in all, the BBC reported. The list is unusually long because high earners such as Ben Stokes and Mark Wood have retired from international cricket, freeing room in the budget.

Eleven players are on two-year contracts running to 30 September 2028: Joe Root (Test captain), Harry Brook (white-ball captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Henry Crocombe, Sam Curran, Will Jacks and Josh Tongue.

The other 19 full contracts go to Rehan Ahmed, Tom Banton, Shoaib Bashir, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Matthew Fisher, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Ollie Robinson, Phil Salt and Jamie Smith.

Development contracts: James Coles, Mason Crane, Josh Hull, Eddie Jack, Ben McKinney, Liam Patterson-White, Thomas Rew, Matthew Revis and Mitch Stanley.

Crocombe: a two-year deal before a first cap

The Sussex and Surrey fast bowler Henry Crocombe has not played for England, yet he is one of five specialist quicks on multi-year deals with Archer, Atkinson, Baker and Tongue. The BBC called it unprecedented for an uncapped player.

Carse kept on despite conduct charge

Director of cricket Rob Key told the Test Match Special podcast he could see Brydon Carse playing for England again, depending on the outcome of a Cricket Regulator charge over an incident outside a Derby nightclub in August, after which police took no action. Carse's two-year deal from last year runs to autumn 2027.

New coaching teams

Test head coach Stephen Fleming has brought in Glamorgan's Richard Dawson, former England wicketkeeper James Foster and South Africa's Eric Simons; Fleming worked with Foster and Simons at Chennai Super Kings. Marcus Trescothick, who took interim charge of the Test side for this summer's home series against Pakistan, stays with the red-ball team. White-ball coach Brendon McCullum keeps Sarah Taylor, Jeetan Patel and Tim Southee, and Kevin Pietersen will work with the white-ball squads before next year's 50-over World Cup in southern Africa.

The Pakistani link

Three players on the list have Pakistani family roots: leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, off-spinner Shoaib Bashir and fast bowler Saqib Mahmood, all of whom keep full contracts.

For Pakistan's own series, follow the Pakistan vs Sri Lanka schedule and results, with the third T20I in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.