Shoaib Bashir set to retain ECB contract despite limited England Test role

Bashir, who turns 23 next week, played twice in England's 2-1 series loss to New Zealand this summer, but was an unused squad member throughout their 3-0 win over Pakistan. Bashir's prospects of selection have fallen sharply since Ben Stokes' international retirement forced England to rebalance their Test team, but he is likely to feature on their winter tours.

England may stick with an all-seam attack for their tour to South Africa (December-January) depending on conditions, with Stephen Fleming due to start his new role as Test head coach in that three-match series. But they will need frontline spin options in Bangladesh in February, and Bashir will come back into contention despite a quiet first season with Derbyshire.

Bashir was first picked on England's tour to India in early 2024 and was their first-choice spinner for the next 18 months. But since breaking a finger against India at Lord's last July, he has only played twice - including one Test where he did not bowl a ball - and was a peripheral figure throughout last winter's tour to Australia.

Cricinfo has learned that Bashir's name is set to feature when the ECB release the names of their centrally-contracted players for the 2026-27 cycle, with the announcement pushed back from this week to next. Stokes and Mark Wood will both drop off the contract list after their international retirements, freeing up significant funds for other players.

Brydon Carse, who is under investigation by the Cricket Regulator after a charge of bringing the game into disrepute, is heading into the second year of a two-year contract he was offered last year, as are many of England's all-format regulars such as Jofra Archer, Harry Brook and Josh Tongue.

The ECB offered 26 men's central contracts last year, plus four pace-bowling development contracts. Stokes and Wood's retirements could prompt the total number of offers to grow slightly as well as some pay rises, given both were among England's highest-earning players.

Rob Key, England's managing director, oversaw a significant change in the ECB's contracting system in 2023 when he offered players multi-year contracts for the first time. Some of those long-term deals have backfired - Jonny Bairstow, for example, did not play in the final year of his contract - but ECB chief executive Richard Gould defended the system recently.

"We need to make sure that we retain the best players," Gould told the Stick to Cricket podcast last week. "That's why we've invested a lot more into the players in terms of salaries… I do think the players are owed a degree of security as well, because what happens if a player gets injured in June or July, and they're on a one-year contract?"