Vaughan: will be back

The fact that the selectors are saying 'we believe in you' doesn't necessarily mean Michael Vaighan will be playing against India or the West Indies, but it does give the former captain something to aim at, some light at the end of the tunnel.

Nasser Hussain
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• Michael Vaughan

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• Willis - Taking the Michael
• Contract boost for Vaughan

I can't say I was at all surprised to see who was awarded a central contract by England.

One or two people may think Michael Vaughan was slightly fortunate, but I disagree. He has done enough over the last four or five years to warrant a bit of loyalty from the selectors.

He has put himself on the line, both mentally and physically and even though he is having a bit of a lean trot for England this year, I genuinely believe it is time they repaid him. And after all, this loyalty only lasts for a year.

Vaughan deserves it. He's not playing well right now, but the potential is there, the experience is there, the mental toughness is there to come through this bad patch.

The fact that the selectors are saying 'we believe in you' doesn't necessarily mean he will be playing against India or the West Indies, but it does give the former captain something to aim at, some light at the end of the tunnel.

Freshen

Historically he has done well against Australia too, but Michael is the first to admit that you cannot live off past glories.

You have to perform and he will be the first to admit he has to start getting some runs, and I think he will. With a little bit of time away from the game, a little freshen up, I think he will get back into form and get back into that England side.

In all I don't really have any problems with the contracts handed out.

I suppose they could have kept Steve Harmison hungry. They upped his performance levels by keeping him out of the side, and you could've made an argument for doing the same again here.

But this is a new Harmison. From my understanding and the discussions I've had with Steve, he will tour again. His family are settled now and the most important thing is he now realises he can't just turn up on tour and expect to be ready for Test cricket.

He knows he is going to have to play some cricket leading up to the Test as well, and that might as well be one-day cricket for England as opposed to a Lions game. Why not do it in a proper England shirt?

Rewarding

Harmison is one of the players who has benefited from Kevin Pietersen's captaincy - and these conracts are also the new captain rewarding those players that have done so well for him.

The captain is showing loyalty to the lads that won that last Test and the four ODI's against South Africa. He is showing faith in them, he is repaying them for producing the goods.

He has given people his backing, now is the time for them to repay it. He is not about to turn round and say thanks for the summer, but now I don't want you for the Stanford games. He is not about to kneecap someone after all they've done for him against South Africa.

And Pietersen will have had a huge say in these contracts, make no mistake about that. From what I've seen of him as a captain, he is not one to head off for his holidays leaving the selectors to pick these squads and dish out the contracts.

He wants to pick the side, he wants control over it all, and he is single-minded enough to do that. From the moment he left South Africa to come over to England, he has never been one to worry about rules and who he might be upsetting.

Pietersen says and does what he thinks is right and long may that continue. I like his style of captaincy, he speaks his mind and we know what he wants for his team.

Message

When the issue of central contracts came up in my time as England captain, I always felt my hands were a little bit tied. There wasn't as much money available as there is today and there were times when I would go to the ECB and ask them how many can we have? And they would say nine or 10.

'Well', I'd tell them, 'we usually pick 11 in a cricket team'! By naming nine or 10 we were sending out a message to our future opponents that we didn't have enough players the central board deemed good enough to play Test cricket.

That was then though, and the game has changed. So much so that you could argue that these central contracts are perhaps too Test-orientated. That was always the case in my day, but I do feel we focus too much on Test matches.

These incremental contracts are primarily one-day deals for the likes of Graeme Swann, Samit Patel, Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara, but I wouldn't have minded if the central ones were handed out with equal billing to the limited overs game.

Speaking of Shah and Bopara, don't be confused into thinking central contracts and selection are the same thing.

The contracts are a reward for past performances - hence Michael Vaughan's - the selectors have still got to sit down and work out the best 15 to tour India and that may well push those two young men ahead of the former captain. If they think Shah can do a better job in that first Test in Ahmedabad, then that is more important than Vaughan being centrally contracted.

Specialists

There is still no wicket-keeper which is hardly a surprise and shows the selectors still haven't made up their mind and even with the Stanford Super Series coming up, they have not gone for any so-called Twenty20 specialists.

I suppose the likes of Graham Napier, Dimi Mascarenhas, Joe Denly and Rob Key might be disappointed, but the last thing Pietersen and England want to do is demolish what they have just built up.

He is not about to turn around and tell the players who did so well in the one-dayers against South Africa that one or two of them are going to be removed from the side - particularly when you are talking about such a huge cash bonanza on offer.

The players will have been biting their nails in the run-up to this announcement, because like anyone in any walk of life, they want to know where they stand. They can now go away and enjoy their holidays - someone like Harmison more so than say, Shah - knowing that security is there.

But they also know they will have to perform if they want to keep their place. Kevin Pietersen and England are on a roll, and there is no resting on your laurels, central contract or not.