England are confident Ben Stokes remains “100 per cent committed” to international cricket, despite turning down a three-year central contract in favour of a 12-month extension.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has introduced multi-year deals for the first time in a bid to guard against the growing influence of franchise leagues but Test captain Stokes has rejected an offer that would have tied him in until autumn 2026.
Instead of taking the long-term security of an offer that would have been worth in the region of £3million – no small matter given his fitness issues in recent times – he has agreed another annual retainer and plans to renegotiate again next year.
Director of men’s cricket Rob Key, who has overseen the revamped system, is relaxed about the decision and believes Stokes is merely gambling on raising his future value at the bargaining table.
“Ben was offered three, but he’s actually turned around now and said: ‘No, I think I’ll be in a stronger position next year’,” explained Key.
“You might have more power if you have a good year to negotiate what you want. But he’s 100 per cent committed to playing for England, so I wouldn’t read into it the fact he signed one year that he’s not.
“By no means is it Ben Stokes saying: ‘I don’t want to play for England’. All he talks about is being completely committed to playing for England and also captaining that Test team – planning for India, planning for the Ashes, planning for West Indies and Sri Lanka next summer. I don’t think it has crossed his mind not playing for England for the next four, five, six years.”
A total of six three-year deals were offered – with Joe Root, Harry Brook and Mark Wood signing up, while white-ball captain Jos Buttler and injured seamer Jofra Archer have gone for a middle ground by taking two-year options.
There are 26 deals in all, spanning the age range from 19-year-old Rehan Ahmed to 41-year-old James Anderson. Fifteen are on two-year options, with eight on traditional 12-month terms and top-up payments handed to seam trio Matthew Fisher, Saqib Mahmood and the uncapped John Turner.
Nobody has refused to sign, but several may have been disappointed not to make the cut. David Willey is the only member of the World Cup squad in India not to make the list, highly-rated all-rounder Will Jacks was also omitted despite being capped in all three formats over the last year and Jason Roy is out after terminating the remainder of his previous deal to play Major League Cricket in the United States last summer.
Key was speaking in Bengaluru, where England will be hoping to boost a dreadful World Cup campaign with victory over Sri Lanka on Thursday, and admitted having a tough conversation with Willey.
“It’s fair to say David wasn’t best pleased, as you can understand, being the only one out here not to get a contract,” he said.
“It’s bloody tough, to be honest. We’d love to live in a world where you can just say we have a pot of extra cash and you can just give him something because he’s come out for the World Cup.”
Key believes the new raft of contracts have effectively safeguarded England’s interests at a time when the sports tectonic plates are shifting fast.
The spending power of the biggest Indian-backed T20 brands means international boards are struggling to compete and there has been a real fear at the ECB that its most prized assets could be lured away from the national set-up entirely.
“You don’t know what the future holds with franchise cricket; you don’t know when the first year-long deal for an English cricketer is going to be offered from a franchise,” he said.
“So I’m pretty pleased because I think for the first time in this changing landscape for cricket we start to see what players really think and what they really do. And we’ve seen that everyone’s committed to English cricket.
“I don’t want a world where you see your best players going off and (only) playing franchise cricket. I want to see them playing for England.”
Three-year deals:H Brook, J Root, M Wood.
Two-year deals:R Ahmed, J Archer, G Atkinson, J Bairstow, J Buttler, B Carse, Z Crawley, S Curran, B Duckett, L Livingstone, O Pope, M Potts, A Rashid, J Tongue, C Woakes.
One-year deals:M Ali, J Anderson, B Foakes, J Leach, D Malan, O Robinson, B Stokes, R Topley.
Development deals:M Fisher, S Mahmood, J Turner.
Greaves hits unbeaten ton as West Indies dominate Bangladesh
Justin Greaves hit an unbeaten century – his first red-ball ton – as West Indies ended day two of their first Test against Bangladesh with a commanding 410-run lead.
Greaves resumed alongside Joshua Da Silva with West Indies 250-5 after day one in Antigua, eventually slamming 115 runs off 206 balls faced as the hosts established a dominant position.
His steady knock ensured the Windies recovered nicely after slipping to 261-7 early on, while Kemar Roach hit a career-best 47 through four defiant hours at the crease.
Hasan Mahmud took three day-two wickets for Bangladesh, including that of Roach, as his short delivery angled in to clip the top of middle stump.
Windies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite declared to put Bangladesh at the crease late on, and there was no respite for the tourists against the hosts' four-man pace attack.
Zakir Hasan fell to Jayden Seales for 15, while Mahmudul Hasan Joy edged Alzarri Joseph for five shortly after being dropped, leaving Bangladesh 40-2 at stumps.
Data Debrief: Career-best for Greaves
Greaves' unbeaten 115 marked his first century in Test cricket, surpassing his previous best knock – a score of 33 versus Australia in January – by some distance.
His strike rate of 55.83 on Saturday, while steady, also bettered his effort of 55.00 during that match in Brisbane. Thanks to his efforts, Bangladesh have a real mountain to climb on day three.
Inglis hails 'hard to stop' Stoinis after ruthless knock
Josh Inglis lauded "hard to stop" Marcus Stoinis as Australia signed off their T20I series against Pakistan in style, claiming a whitewash.
The hosts raced to a seven-wicket victory with almost nine overs remaining in Monday's third match.
After Australia's bowlers had limited Pakistan to just 117 runs, Stoinis ensured they signed off their final white-ball assignment in style, with his unbeaten 61 doing the damage.
Only twice has he bettered that knock in T20Is – versus New Zealand in 2021 (78) and against Oman at the World Cup earlier this year (67*).
"It's been a great week. We've had a lot of fun as a group," Inglis said. "It's been really nice.
"When Stoinis is going like that, he is really hard to stop. One of those sixes was probably the biggest I've ever seen!"
Stoinis, who was named player of the match, added: "Nice to score some runs on a beautiful wicket but credit to the bowlers who kept the total down.
"Yeah, I actually told [Haris] Rauf that this is the first time any of us got the better of him! No, he's a brilliant bowler, bowled well this series."
During their white-ball tour, Pakistan won the ODI series, their first time doing so in Australia in 22 years, but got whitewashed in the T20Is.
Despite the heavy loss, captain Agha Salman chose to focus on the positive effect the experience will have on their young players.
"I think in the middle overs, we didn't capitalise on the start," he said. "But lots of positives.
"The way Usman [Khan] batted, the way Jahandad [Khan] bowled. These youngsters will come good.
"It's obviously a big achievement winning the ODI series, but we could have done much better in the T20Is."
Salt century gives England winning start to West Indies T20 series
Phil Salt hit a superb century as England drew first blood in their T20 series against West Indies, with a commanding eight-wicket victory at the Kensington Oval.
Salt's unbeaten 103 off 54 balls was the highlight for the tourists, who successfully chased down their target of 183 with 19 balls to spare.
The West Indies endured a difficult start and were reduced to 18-3 and later 117-8, with Saqib Mahmood (4-34) and Adil Rashid (3-32) doing the damage.
However, the hosts managed 65 runs in the last 5.2 overs to finish at 182-8, with Gukadesh Motie knocking 33 off 14 balls along the way.
Salt kick-started England's chase with 50 off just 25 deliveries taking them to 73-1 after six overs, with Will Jacks (17) dismissed with the final ball of the powerplay.
Jos Buttler's first match after four months out lasted just three minutes, as the skipper was caught by Motie for a golden duck.
However, it proved a false dawn for West Indies, with Salt and Jacob Bethall (58 from 36 balls) safely steering England to victory.
Data Debrief: Salt completes hat-trick of hundreds as Bethell makes historic half-century
England put their disappointing ODI series behind them, making history with the highest T20 chase at the Kensington Oval.
Salt was the hero with his third T20I century, all of which have come against West Indies in the past 12 months.
Bethell also made history on Saturday. Aged 21 years and 17 days, he become the youngest England player to score a 50 in a T20I.
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