BUTTLER IN AS ECB GIVE GO-AHEAD TO ASHES TOUR

ENGLAND will take a full-strength squad to the Ashes — including Jos Buttler — after senior players finally committed to next month’s trip. Barring any last-minute changes of heart, it means Joe Root will be able to call upon all his fit players for the 11-week trip. An ECB board meeting was held at Lord’s yesterday which ratified the five-match series following months of doubt over availability due to uncertainty over the Covid conditions players and their families would face in Australia. England’s Test vice-captain Buttler (below) made it clear he would not go on the tour without his wife Louise and two young daughters Georgia and Margot, who was born last month. But after several meetings with Cricket Australia this week it appears that those in line for selection are happy with the restrictions they will face down under. A squad will be chosen this weekend and could be named tomorrow, although Root’s men will bid to become only the second England team to win an away Ashes series in 35 years without injured quartet Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran and Olly Stone, plus Moeen Ali, who has retired from Test cricket. ‘We have made excellent progress in moving forward on the England Men’s Ashes Tour,’ an ECB statement read yesterday. ‘To facilitate further progress and allow a squad to be selected, The ECB Board has given its approval for the tour to go ahead. This decision is subject to several conditions being met before we travel.’ Those conditions will be satisfied by Australia in the coming days. The news follows the announcement that England’s central contracts system has a new structure for 2021-22. In all, 20 players received the new-look annual deals which run from October 1 and are no longer split between Test and white-ball cricket. Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson, Yorkshire’s Dawid Malan and Somerset’s slow left-armer Jack Leach were all first-time recipients, Lancashire all-rounder Liam Livingstone’s performances have been recognised as one of four to be handed increment contracts while Craig Overton, Saqib Mahmood and Stone all remain on ECB pace-bowling contracts. Discarded opener Dom Sibley misses out altogether. Multi-format players can earn up to £850,000-per-year as a basic and break the million-pound barrier if England are successful, with match fees and bonuses remaining at the same level as 2020-21. However, individuals at the other end of the spectrum are most likely to benefit under the revamped framework. All 20 players receive amounts from £220,000 upwards on a ranking system of both seniority and achievement. Ashley Giles, England’s director of cricket, said: ‘This is the fairest and most transparent way of rewarding players across all formats.’