Author: Syd Egan

OPINION: England Women Lose Two Year Central Contracts

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I should perhaps begin by stating two things for the record:

  1. I think the central contracts for England women have outlived their usefulness, and should be abolished.
  2. Issuing two year contracts to players coming towards the end of their careers, as the ECB did last year, was difficult to justify.

Nonetheless, the ECB clearly do believe in the central contracts system, and last year they issued seven two year contracts alongside 10 standard one year deals. The accompanying press release included a quote from England Women’s Player Partnership Management Board Member, Emma Reid, who said:

“EWPP and the PCA are really encouraged at the progression of standards within the Women’s Central Contracts, achieved through strong collaboration between the ECB and player representatives. It is positive to see multi-year agreements.“ [Emphasis mine.]

Just a few weeks ago, the ECB effectively restated their commitment to the principle of two year contracts by issuing 14 of them to the men.

So it was something of a surprise when this year’s contracts were announced to see that the two year deals awarded to Amy Jones, Heather Knight etc. have not been extended, and have now de-facto become one year deals again. (The press release is a bit vague, but we’ve had it confirmed that none of the two year deals were “rolled” and everyone’s contract now expires in October 2026.)

So one minute, two year deals are encouraging, positive progress, not to mention being thrown around like confetti for the men; the next they are literally last year’s news.

I’m wondering what has changed… and I’m guessing players like Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone are too!

The CRICKETher Weekly – Episode 297

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2

This week:

  • Heat crash out of WBBL
  • Why England players haven’t fared too well in the WPL auction
  • 2026 English domestic fixtures announced
  • Erin Osborne to shake things up at Somerset
  • FairBreak’s questionable decision to set up in Saudi Arabia

 

PLAYER RANKINGS: World Cup

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Batting Rankings

Batting Rankings Matches Runs Dot % Single % Boundary % Strike Rate
1. L Wolvaardt 9 571 48 35 14 99
2. A Gardner 5 328 34 43 18 131
3. S Mandhana 9 434 49 35 14 99
4. AJ Healy 5 299 43 33 21 125
5. P Litchfield 7 304 51 29 19 112
6. RM Ghosh 8 235 44 31 20 134
7. JI Rodrigues 7 292 42 41 13 102
8. N de Klerk 7 208 46 31 21 133
9. HC Knight 7 288 52 33 11 86
10. SFM Devine 5 289 48 40 9 85
11. Pratika Rawal 6 308 56 31 10 78
12. H Kaur 8 260 49 36 11 89
13. NR Sciver-Brunt 6 262 50 35 9 85
14. M Kapp 8 208 44 40 12 103
15. T Brits 9 235 57 26 13 89
16. DB Sharma 7 215 34 56 7 90
17. NND de Silva 5 168 39 41 13 112
18. BL Mooney 6 211 45 40 9 89
19. BM Halliday 5 227 49 40 9 82
20. AE Jones 8 220 57 27 12 84
Ranking = Runs * Strike Rate ©CRICKETher/cricsheet.org

Bowling Rankings

Bowling Rankings Matches Wickets Dot % Boundary % Wide % Economy
1. DB Sharma 9 22 48 11 2 5.52
2. S Ecclestone 7 16 61 7 2 4.06
3. A Sutherland 7 17 60 10 4 4.54
4. A King 7 13 61 8 1 4.04
5. LCN Smith 8 12 61 8 0 4.14
6. M Kapp 9 12 68 10 3 4.19
7. N Shree Charani 9 14 52 9 1 4.96
8. N Mlaba 9 13 56 9 2 4.84
9. LMM Tahuhu 6 10 66 10 10 4.62
10. Fatima Sana 5 10 62 11 3 5.07
11. Sadia Iqbal 5 8 62 10 2 4.47
12. N de Klerk 7 9 52 9 3 5.30
13. CE Dean 8 8 55 9 3 4.87
14. Rabeya Khan 7 7 62 9 1 4.32
15. K Goud 8 9 59 15 2 5.73
16. I Ranaweera 4 7 49 5 2 4.53
17. Nashra Sandhu 5 7 58 10 0 4.53
18. NR Sciver-Brunt 8 9 51 13 4 5.87
19. Nahida Akter 6 6 64 9 0 3.93
20. JM Kerr 7 8 54 10 7 5.43
Ranking = Wickets / Economy ©CRICKETher/cricsheet.org