Ashley Giles: "We are very grateful to the first-class counties for agreeing to this. We are committed to working very closely with them to best develop players"
Friday 31 January 2020 16:52, UK
Olly Stone, Craig Overton and Saqib Mahmood have been awarded England's first Pace Bowling Development Contracts.
The deals will ensure that England have greater control over the seamers' workload, while the ECB will pay a "significant" part of their county deals.
Warwickshire quick Stone has played one Test and four ODIs for England, Somerset star Overton has managed four Tests and one ODI, and Lancashire's Mahmood has featured in three T20 internationals.
"Having a strong supply line of high-quality seam bowlers is an essential ingredient for sustained England team success in both white-ball and red-ball cricket," said England managing director of men's cricket, Ashley Giles.
"We are very grateful to the first-class counties for agreeing to this, in particular Lancashire, Somerset and Warwickshire.
"We are committed to working very closely with them to best develop players for the long-term benefit of English cricket and to ensure they are at their very best to perform at optimum levels throughout the domestic campaign."
Under the terms of the deals, which run until September 30, Stone, Overton and Mahmood will spend more time with personnel from the ECB's National Performance Centre in Loughborough.
Mahmood is part of England's squad for the three-match ODI series in South Africa, which starts in Cape Town on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.30am.
