Crisis, contracts and lure of T20 leagues

A revised central contracts system is making news in English cricket. For the first time since 2000, England's cricket board (ECB) has offered multi-year central contracts to its players.

- Somshuvra Laha

Harry Brook, Joe Root, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes were offered threeyear contracts. Archer and Buttler opted for two-year deals while Stokes only agreed to a single-year contract. In all, 29 players received offers 18 multi-year deals, eight one-year contracts and three development contracts. It's raining money, and everyone's cashing in.

The optics of this development do not fit with the England team's reality. Right now, the point of bemusement is the World Cup spiralling out of control. If defeat to Afghanistan wasn't sobering enough, the hammering by South Africa has sent England crashing.

It has already left 2019 feeling like some isolated glory as England seem to be going through the motions in India without a sliver of inspiration. To offer a revised, and plumper, central contract at this juncture seems poorly timed and sends a wrong message.