The England & Wales Cricket Board has announced the names of twelve centrally-contracted players for the coming English season. The players chosen are Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, Marcus Trescothick, Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart, Michael Vaughan, Craig White, Ashley Giles, Dominic Cork, Andrew Caddick, Darren Gough and Matthew Hoggard.

Two of the players who featured in the recent Test series in Sri Lanka, Graeme Hick and Robert Croft, are not included on the list. Hick was given a contract last summer but he has been left off the list this year. England coach Duncan Fletcher had been hoping to offer 15 central contracts but, in what is seen to be a compromise with the counties, only 12 players have been offered deals.

However, Fletcher is understood to have been given greater powers of veto and will decide when players turn out for their counties. As well as Hick, those who were given contracts last year but have missed out this time around include Mark Ramprakash, Andrew Flintoff, Dean Headley and Chris Schofield.

Along with Giles, the new contract winners are Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick, Matthew Hoggard and Dominic Cork, though he will have to prove his fitness after missing the winter tours with a back injury. Thorpe was not given a contract last summer after making himself unavailable for the previous winter's tour to South Africa.

Hoggard's inclusion is just reward for his efforts during tour games in Sri Lanka when he returned some good figures, although he did not appear in a Test during the winter. His selection means that there are four Yorkshiremen on the list – Darren Gough, Craig White and Michael Vaughan being the others. Last year there was some criticism from members at Headingley about the lack of games that Gough played for his county and with four of their players now on central contracts, supporters are unlikely to be any happier this season.

But England's results since the introduction of central contracts – four consecutive series victories – indisputably shows the system works. The players themselves have spoken out in favour of it. Gough is convinced the system works and believes that it may help extend his career. Earlier this month he said: "I've been looked after well over this last 12 months. There were doubts about central contracts but the way Nasser and Duncan have looked after me between games has been brilliant. They ask me if I want to play, do I need to play and they've looked after me well. I've hardly played any games in between Test cricket in the last year and a half. I want to go on playing for another two or three years but I want to be playing when I'm still strong and fit," he said.

© CricInfo Ltd.