Ben Stokes has agreed a fresh two-year central contract with the ECB – a pretty firm hint that the current Test captain wants to be around for the next home Ashes in 2027.
The 34-year-old all-rounder has hardly played anything other than Test cricket over the past 12 months, his body complaining about assorted hamstring and shoulder issues. Even so, the new deal makes it clear he is not thinking about walking away just yet.
Head coach Brendon McCullum is contracted until the end of 2027, so the coach-captain double act that began in June 2022 looks set to run for a while longer. Since teaming up, they’ve won 25 Tests and lost 14, though a series win against Australia, India or South Africa still eludes them.
“I like the depth and strength of talent we’ve got,” Rob Key, England’s director of men’s cricket, said when the ECB revealed 26 full contracts and four development deals on Tuesday. Key added that the multi-year offers, first rolled out in 2023, help England keep their best players when franchise leagues come calling. “England remains their priority,” he insisted.
Fourteen players, Stokes included, have taken two-year contracts running to October 2027. Among them are Adil Rashid – suggesting the leg-spinner has the 2027 ODI World Cup in mind – and Sam Curran, back in the fold after slipping down the white-ball pecking order earlier this year. Jos Buttler has also signed for two more years despite passing the limited-overs captaincy to Harry Brook at the end of the summer.
A dozen others are on one-year deals. That list features Shoaib Bashir, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Mark Wood – a group who could, in theory, be moved on after the coming winter if results in Australia go badly. Wood is already in the last year of the three-year contract he picked up in 2023.
Five men have central deals for the first time: Somerset fast bowler Sonny Baker, Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson, Lancashire quick Saqib Mahmood, Surrey’s Jamie Overton and left-arm seamer Luke Wood. On the flip side, six players have been released: Jonny Bairstow, Jack Leach, Liam Livingstone, Olly Stone, Reece Topley and Chris Woakes – Woakes having retired from international duty anyway.
There is also a quartet of development contracts handed to pace bowlers touring Australia with the Lions this winter: Josh Hull, Eddie Jack, Tom Lawes and Mitchell Stanley. Hampshire seamer John Turner, sidelined by a back stress fracture for most of 2025, drops off that list.
“This structure allows us to support our players properly while maintaining strong squads across all formats as much as possible,” Key said.
One or two omissions did raise eyebrows. Tom Banton, ever-present in England’s T20 side since Brook took over, misses out, as does Jordan Cox, who has travelled with several squads across formats. Both remain firmly in selection conversations but, for now, will ply their trade on the county circuit and, if schedules allow, the franchise scene.
All told, the contract sheet paints a fairly clear picture: England want continuity at the top, room to promote emerging quicks, and the option to refresh if the next Ashes tour goes south. And Stokes? He has two more summers, plenty of rehab sessions and, you’d guess, a sizeable urn in his sights.
