The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today announced that the First Class Forum (FCF) had agreed to introduce Central Contracts for England players from the beginning of the next home season.

The FCF, which is comprised of the eighteen First Class Counties and MCC, agreed that an additional sum of around £1 million would be included in the budget for the year 2000 to cover the cost of contracts for players and compensation to Counties for the loss of their services.

The overall number of contracts issued to both Test and One-Day International players is unlikely to exceed 16. Contracts will be issued for a six-month period, although the FCF did recognise the need for a limited number of players to be issued with 12-month contracts.

The first batch of contracts will be announced after the winter tour to South Africa and Zimbabwe and will run from March to September 2000. The precise amount of compensation to be paid to individual counties is still to be determined.

Announcing today's decision, ECB Chief Executive Tim Lamb said: ``We believe the introduction of Central Contracts is essential if England are to develop a settled squad of international players capable of performing well consistently.

``The mood at today's meeting was unequivocally in favour of change and there was widespread support for the view that the new England Coach, Duncan Fletcher, and Captain, Nasser Hussain, must be given maximum support if they are to develop a winning side.''

The FCF also agreed that One-Day Internationals would be staged at Bristol, Canterbury and Chester-le-Street next summer as part of England's 10-match triangular series with West Indies and Zimbabwe. More details will be released once the full international programme has been agreed with the cricket boards of both countries.

It was further agreed that the fixture schedule should be fixed as far as possible so the public know when competitions are to be played.

A full domestic schedule will be announced in due course.

For further information contact:

ECB Media Relations Officers Brian Murgatroyd/Andrew Walpole - 0171 4321200