New ECB chair Richard Thompson has revealed England players could be offered multi-year central contracts in a bid to avoid the "tragedy" of top stars turning their backs on international cricket in favour of more lucrative deals in franchise leagues around the world.
Thompson's comments come after New Zealand quick Trent Boult opted out of his central contract, partly so he could play more franchise cricket. And Thompson admits the sport is at a "tipping point", with the ECB keen to prevent their best players from following a similar path.
"I do feel we are at an inflection point, a tipping point, of how we control our talent and are not losing them," Thompson said. "In five years' time if we've lost our best talent to multiple global tournaments then that's a tragedy.
"We've got to guard against it and we've got to create a pathway. And that involves a lot more thinking than we are doing at the moment. We've got to find ways in the schedule, the financial commitments, other areas where it's not all about money, security – that we can provide them.
"If you're going from one league to another and you get injured, you're done. But if a country can say, 'here's a three year contract' – that's very different."
Thompson also spoke about the difficulties of balancing the domestic schedule, admitting it is "like the worst game of Jenga ever" and that The Hundred has "cannibalised the schedule". He added: "I was never really against [The Hundred].
"I was just against the fact that it was going to cannibalise the schedule, which is what it has done. What I don't want to do is have The Hundred that diminishes the Blast. The Hundred can work and will work.
"It's like the worst game of Jenga ever. Nothing's perfect. But we have to get to the point where it's better than what we've got.
"Now we need to find a way of balancing the schedule where four competitions can coexist together without one cannibalising the other and we know that’s challenging and we know that's difficult."
