HALES QUITS TESTS...NOW THESE TWO MAY BE NEXT
Alex Hales became the latest england player to withdraw from first- class cricket yesterday when he signed a new deal with Nottinghamshire — but he is unlikely to be the last.
The white-ball central contracts the eCB championed 18 months ago are pushing more players towards negotiating reduced terms with their counties in exchange for a greater freedom to play domestically round the globe. Others who will contemplate such a route in the coming months include Yorkshire’s David Willey and liam Plunkett, both of whom are out of contract at the end of the 2018 season.
Willey, a regular in england’s oneday and T20 squads, is just one player being forced into such a position by a system that sees white-ball internationals put on a £60,000-a-year basic deal to top up their club salaries. Ideally, he would like the security of signing a longterm contract with Yorkshire, but the club are reluctant to pay him at a similar level given his restricted availability.
His talents commanded a £50,000 transfer fee to Northamptonshire when Yorkshire made him one of their highest earners in august 2015. Upon his arrival, he cited a desire to play Test cricket.
However, since then he has become an expensive luxury due to ODI and T20 international success. In 2017, he made just two County Championship appearances for Yorkshire, and a further 16 in white- ball matches. Willey, 28 next week, has pulled out of a £55,000 deal to play in the upcoming Pakistan super league to join Yorkshire’s preseason tour in south africa.
Plunkett, five years his senior, will also be in that travelling party as he recovers from hamstring trouble. Both remain committed to playing all formats for 2018. Yet they will face career crossroads when negotiating new deals this summer.
as one-day international players, they can earn more for a few weeks in the Bangladesh Premier league than they pick up on their annual eCB retainer.
They may join adil Rashid and Hales as freelance cricketers from 2019, a World Cup year. Two other white-ball regulars, Jos Buttler and Jason Roy, are still focused on the Test team. Both have two years left on their current county deals.
They miss the first two months of this summer at the IPl but will get a chunk of Championship cricket towards the back end to press claims.
Hales (right) has made his decision just 14 months after revealing to
Sportsmail that he was ditching the opening role to become a middleorder batsman. less than a week after leg-spinner Rashid made his shock split from four- day action, Hales followed suit in committing to Trent Bridge for the next two seasons.
‘alex is entitled to make himself available for whatever format he wants to play,’ said Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell yesterday.
‘We respect his decision. He’s an outstanding white-ball player and we look forward to him helping us win more trophies.’