Central contract season arrived, subtlety slipped in between two warm up T20’s in advance of both the T20 World Cup and Pakistan Test squad announcement.
Alex Lees is conspicuous by his absence, Zak Crawley appears to have been given an extended stay of execution. I suspect that Tom Haines and Keaton Jennings will be hopeful that they are set to tour Pakistan with the test team.
Most of the central contracts make sense, its great to see Foakes rewarded. Archer has been deemed by many to be fortunate, which in one sense he is. However, had he not been given a central contract the outcry would’ve been even louder. Dropping him as he approaches fitness would be perceived as a real kick in the teeth and perhaps even a reflection on ECB attitudes.
I feel that Mahmood is unfortunate to have only a pace bowling development contract. In my opinion he is a test player and should be on a central contract.
Brook and Potts too are perhaps unlucky to be on incremental, rather than full contracts. Its hard to believe that all of Anderson, Broad and Woakes will get a contract next time so perhaps they just need to be patient.
The forgotten man is Dan Lawrence; he ended the tour of West Indies in March with 328 runs at an average of 41. He scored a selfless 91 in the second test that fits perfectly with this current test team and tellingly it was his first run in the side at no4.
Prior to that 3 match series in the Caribbean he batted at no3 in 2 matches, no5 in 2 matches, no6 in 3 matches and no7 in one match.
Lawrence and Mahmood were 2 of the positives to come out of that tour. Lawrence was looking like he belonged and I find it hard to believe he was not inked into the test side for this summer. Like Mahmood, his summer was interrupted by injury. He was not available for selection at the start of the test summer and never quite got back into his groove as he chased a recall.
There is no doubt that Harry Brook jumped ahead of him, but I was surprised he was not the spare batsman in the final test squad. He is 25 years old with over 100 first class matches under his belt. He has toured both the subcontinent and Australia with the test side and given that Bairstow is not available I would see him as the natural back up (assuming Brook bats at no5).
Of course its not too late for him to bounce back, but I was surprised that the hierarchy didn’t extend him the loyalty they have shown to Zak Crawley and Jofra Archer.