No place for Crawley and Wood as ECB announces central contracts for 2026-27 season

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced its men's central contracts and coaching setup for the 2026-27 season. Dan Lawrence, Matt Fisher, Emilio Gay, Tom Banton, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox and Henry Crocombe have been awarded central contracts for the first time.

Top-order batter Zak Crawley and left-arm seamer Luke Wood, both of whom held central contracts last year, have been omitted this time on performance grounds.

England men's Test head coach Stephen Fleming will have Richard Dawson, Eric Simons, Marcus Trescothick and James Foster in the team management. Meanwhile, England's white-ball head coach, Brendon McCullum, has a coaching staff that includes Sarah Taylor, Jeetan Patel, Tim Southee and Kevin Pietersen as a mentor.

England will next be in action on their white-ball tour of Australia in November-December. The bilateral contest will feature three ODIs and five T20Is, starting November 12. Their red-ball team recently hammered Pakistan 3-0 in a three-match Test series under the leadership of Joe Root.

England Men Centrally Contracted Players 2026–27

Joe Root* (Yorkshire), Harry Brook* (Yorkshire), Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Jofra Archer* (Sussex), Gus Atkinson* (Surrey), Sonny Baker* (Hampshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Shoaib Bashir (Derbyshire), Jacob Bethell* (Warwickshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Sam Cook (Essex), Jordan Cox* (Essex), Henry Crocombe* (Sussex/Surrey), Sam Curran* (Surrey), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Emilio Gay (Durham), Matthew Fisher (Surrey), Will Jacks* (Surrey), Dan Lawrence (Surrey), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Jamie Overton (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts (Durham), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Phil Salt (Lancashire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Josh Tongue* (Nottinghamshire)

Note: *Signifies a two-year deal through until 30 September 2028

England Men Development Contracted Players 2026–27

James Coles (Sussex), Mason Crane (Glamorgan), Josh Hull (Leicestershire), Eddie Jack (Hampshire), Ben McKinney (Durham), Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire), Thomas Rew (Somerset), Matthew Revis (Yorkshire), Mitch Stanley (Lancashire)