A new Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) recruit has been awarded a central contract by his country’s cricket board following his recent impressive debut.

21-year-old English batting all-rounder Jacob Bethell, who was bought by RCB for INR 2.6 crore at the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) auction last month in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, made his debut with England earlier last week during the New Zealand vs England First Test in Christchurch.

Bethell made an impressive start to his Test career, scoring a maiden half-century in the second innings to help secure England’s victory at Hagley Oval.

Following his heroics, the England Cricket Board (RCB) upgraded his development contract to a central contract, which will run for two years until September 2026. Notably, Bethell was awarded his development contract just last month.

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Rajasthan Royals and SRH pacers receive contract extensions

The ECB has delivered central contracts in a two-year and one-year model. Top names to feature on the two-year list include the likes of Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jos Buttler.

On the other hand, IPL stars like Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, among others, have been included in the one-year list.

The ECB also made sure to hand over three of its prominent seamers with Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer Jofra Archer, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts extending their contracts until September 2026.

List of centrally contracted England men’s players 2024/2025

Two-year contracts: Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Ben Stokes, Mark Wood (Durham)

One-year contracts: Rehan Ahmed, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jack Leach, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, Josh Tongue, Reece Topley, Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

England Development Contracts: Josh Hull and John Turner

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