Morgan and Wood earn central contracts

England's determination to maintain their recent upturn in fortunes in one-day cricket has been reflected with the awarding of a full ECB central contract for Eoin Morgan, the limited-overs captain.

Morgan, who played the last of his 16 Tests in February 2012 and faced a total of 129 balls in first-class cricket for Middlesex this season, is one of 11 recipients on the list, having cemented his status as the one-day leader with 600 ODI runs at 66.67 in England's summer campaigns against New Zealand and Australia, as well as a matchwinning 74 from 39 balls in the one-off Twenty20 against Australia at Cardiff.

Mark Wood, the Durham fast bowler who has been named in all three squads for England's forthcoming tour of the UAE, is the other newcomer to the list. He and Morgan replace the allrounders Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan, whose opportunities were limited by injury throughout the the 2015 season.

Gary Ballance, England's Test No. 3 until being dropped during the Ashes, has also missed out on a central contract this year.

Andrew Strauss, the ECB director, knows that a successful showing from England at the 2019 World Cup on home soil is one of the board's priorities in the coming years, especially in light of their dismal showing at the 2015 tournament in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, when they failed to qualify for the knock-outs.

"Eoin Morgan's award reflects his status as captain of our limited-overs teams," said Strauss, "and the wider importance we place on white-ball cricket as we prepare for a busy period of T20 and one-day international cricket over the next twelve months, including the World T20 tournament in India next year."

"We congratulate Mark Wood on winning a central contract for the first time," Strauss added. "This award reflects his excellent performances for England this summer and our expectation that he will have a role to play in all three formats of the international game over the next twelve months."

A further eight players have been awarded incremental contracts, including the Yorkshire quartet of Ballance, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid. There is no award, however, for Adam Lyth, whose place as Test opener for the UAE has been taken by Nottinghamshire's Alex Hales.

ECB central contracts: Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Wood (Durham)

Incremental contracts: Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire)