Shoaib Bashir set to retain ECB contract despite limited England Test role

Rob Key, England’s managing director, oversaw a significant change in the ECB’s contracting system in 2023 when he offered players multi-year contracts for the first time. Some of those long-term deals have backfired – Jonny Bairstow, for example, did not play in the final year of his contract – but ECB chief executive Richard Gould defended the system recently.