Kent Cricket's Zak Crawley receives new England central contract
Published: 13:55, 08 October 2021
Updated: 14:19, 08 October 2021
Kent's Zak Crawley has been awarded a new England central contract.
The 23-year-old batter, who got his first England central contract last September, is one of 20 players given deals in England's revamped structure for 2021/22.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has ditched its previous strategy of awarding separate red-ball and white-ball deals, and replaced it with a one-size-fits-all system.
The contracts cover a 12-month period which started on October 1 this year.
Crawley last month helped Kent Spitfires win the T20 Blast competition for the first time in 14 years at Edgbaston, as well as the Division 3 County Championship title.
For England, he burst on the scene when he struck a maiden three-figure international score of 267 against Pakistan at The Ageas Bowl last August.
He has represented England 15 times at Test level and played three One-Day Internationals as well.
Margate-born fast bowler Ollie Robinson, now at Sussex, has also been awarded a first central contract by the ECB.
He made his England debut in June against New Zealand but it was marred by racist and sexist tweets in 2012 and 2013 posted by Robinson which resurfaced on the same day he made his debut.
Managing director of men's cricket for England, Ashley Giles, said he believes the new system is "the fairest and most transparent way of rewarding players across all formats".
He said: "I would like to congratulate all the players offered agreements for the coming year, particularly newcomers Jack Leach, Dawid Malan and Ollie Robinson.
"Receiving your first central contract is a great moment in any player's career. They will all play a pivotal role in England's fortunes over the next 12 months."
Central contracts: Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Sam Curran (Surrey), Jack Leach (Somerset), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).
Increment contracts: Dom Bess (Yorkshire), Tom Curran (Surrey), Chris Jordan (Surrey), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire).
Pace bowling development contracts: Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Craig Overton (Somerset), Olly Stone (Warwickshire).
Read more: All the latest sports news from Kent
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Thomas Reeves