Central contract for Vaughan

2008-09-09 16:04

London - Former England captain Michael Vaughan was one of 12 players awarded a 12-month England central contract by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) here on Tuesday.

Vaughan, who led England to Ashes glory in 2005, resigned as Test captain after South Africa clinched their first Test series win in England since 1965 last month and was replaced as skipper by Kevin Pietersen.

The Yorkshire batsman, who sat out the final match of the South Africa series, has struggled for runs this season. His last fifty, for Yorkshire, was followed by scores of two, nought, 21, nought and 17 against South Africa.

A break from cricket did not lead to an upturn in his fortunes when he came back, with the 31-year-old Vaughan managing just 10, nought and 19 in his next three innings for his county.

"The award of an England central contract to Michael Vaughan reflects the selectors' view that Michael still has a role to play in the England Test squad over the next 12 months," said England national selector Geoff Miller.

"As we build toward the Ashes in 2009, we feel that Michael's experience of previous Ashes campaigns and his excellent personal record against Australia will be an important asset to the squad," the former England off-spinner added.

England are due to announce on September 29 their squad for a two Test tour of India in December.

Twelve centrally contracted players

Vaughan, who has not been a part of England's one-day side since last year's World Cup and so didn't feature in the recent 4-0 home series win against the South Africans, was not included in England's squad for the Stanford Super Series and the seven-match one-day campaign in India.

As well as the 12 centrally contracted players, a further seven players have been awarded "increment contracts" for the same period, October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009.

Pace bowler Matthew Hoggard was dropped from the list of centrally contracted players with Stuart Broad, the man who took his Test place, replacing him among the twelve.

England centrally contracted players 2008/09:

James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison, Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan.

Increment contracts

Tim Ambrose, Ravi Bopara, Samit Patel, Matthew Prior, Owais Shah, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright.

England pace bowler Ryan Sidebottom will have to prove his fitness before being given the chance to earn $1m in the winner-takes-all Stanford Twenty20 clash in November.

The Nottinghamshire left-arm quick was added to the unchanged XI which wrapped up a 4-0 one-day series win at home to South Africa this month and the four other original squad members to form a 15-man party for the match against billionaire Allen Stanford's Caribbean 'superstars' in Antigua on November 1 and the subsequent seven-match one-day series in India.

15-man squad:

England 15-man squad announced Tuesday for the Stanford Super Series in Antigua and the one-day international series in India:

Kevin Pietersen (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison, Samit Patel, Matt Prior (wkt) Owais Shah, Graeme Swann, Ryan Sidebottom, Luke Wright

Fixtures

Stanford Super Series (Twenty20)

All matches at Stanford Cricket Ground, Antigua

Oct 25: Stanford Superstars v Trinidad and Tobago

Oct 26: England v Middlesex

Oct 27: Trinidad and Tobago v Middlesex

Oct 28: England v Trinidad and Tobago

Oct 29: Stanford Superstars v Middlesex

Nov 01: Stanford Superstars v England

England ODIs in India

Nov 06: England arrive, Mumbai

Nov 09: One-day warm-up match, Mumbai

Nov 11: One-day warm-up match, Mumbai

Nov 14: 1ST 0DI v INDIA, Rajkot

Nov 17: 2ND ODI v INDIA, Indore

Nov 20: 3RD ODI v INDIA, Kanpur

Nov 23: 4TH ODI v INDIA, Jamshedpur

Nov 26: 5TH ODI v INDIA, Cuttack

Nov 29: 6TH ODI v INDIA, Guwahati

Dec 02: 7th ODI v INDIA, Delhi

- SAPA