London: England captain Alastair Cook has reportedly signed a 12-month central contract worth almost a million pounds, along with a team of eleven core players, including star batsman Kevin Pietersen , who will head to Australia on Wednesday to prepare for the first leg of their winter Ashes tour.
Experienced players on the top band of the Lord`s pay scale who play Tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 will be nudging one million pounds-a-year under the incremental agreement which will run until October 2019, finally giving them wage parity with their Australian counterparts.
According to the Mirror, the central contracts, a result of discussions between the Professional Cricketers` Association ( PCA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board ( ECB), resulted in a net pay rise of up to 30 per cent.
Congratulating the players, national selector Geoff Miller, who will stand down after this winter`s Ashes series, said that youngster Joe Root is the newest addition to the list of players awarded a central contract, adding that it reflected the important role he has played since making his international debut last year.