Central Contracts May Become a Thing of the Past With Rise of Twenty20

Andrew Chandler, the cricket agent who represents Andrew Flintoff, Michael Vaughan and Steve Harmison, believes England players may be ?"better off without central contracts". His views are certain to be discussed by the ?England and Wales Cricket Board who, Observer Sport has learned, have already held informal talks regarding the future of the central contract system.

Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood could all have earned more from the Indian Premier League this spring if they did not have central contracts ? but England would have lost their services for the first two home Tests of the year. In a scenario he has discussed with Flintoff, Chandler suggests players could become free agents, maximising their earnings from the IPL and any other lucrative Twenty20 competitions which may be created in the future, as the shortest form of the game continues to transform professional cricket.

Chandler, who also represents top golfers, said he had pointed out to Flintoff that eventually his life would be like a golfer's, with no contract with anybody. "He would think: 'Well, I don't fancy Pakistan for that money in June. But I do fancy South Africa even though it's less money in October because the family can come, and I'll play the IPL because it's great cash.' Just like a golf tournament schedule ? you end up playing five or six Twenty20 competitions and fitting everything else round it.

"It's probably two or three years down the road for Andrew, but certainly there's a possibility. If that was the case, you're better off without a central contract."

One ECB executive admitted that the governing body were aware of these issues, saying: "The real challenge will come when a player decides he does not want a contract and says: 'Pick me when I'm available.' There are two ways of looking at it: are central contracts dead or should everyone be on a central contract because then you've got control over all the players?

"You've got Graham Napier and Dimitri Mascarenhas who are not on central contracts ? they're playing in the IPL. Why should they be able to go and Flintoff and Pietersen can't?"

Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach who fought for central contracts to be introduced in 2000, believes the ECB would be choosing the easy way out if the system was ended. "They haven't got the strength of character to uphold the contract system," he said. "This would be a way of getting out of having to make decisions."

An immediate option for the ECB is to negotiate with the IPL to start their competition earlier, or scrap all England home matches at this time of the year to allow Flintoff and company to complete the tournament.

"England are playing on 6 May ? that's absolutely ridiculous," Chandler said. "It's all money driven, TV driven, so there's no point the ECB pointing the finger at players in the IPL."