London, Oct 24 (IANS): Joe Root, Mark Wood and Harry Brook have been awarded three-year central contracts while England's Test captain Ben Stokes agreed to a one-year deal as England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Tuesday announced the Central Contract offers for Men's international cricket for the year from October 1.

Multi-year contracts have been awarded for the first time since central contracts were established in 2000 with the ECB keen to counter the threat to player availability posed by T20 franchise tournaments and offer players increased security.

In total, 29 players have received Central Contract offers - 18 England Multi-Year Central Contracts, eight England Annual Central Contracts, and three England Development Contracts.

Seven players (Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue) receive an England Central Contract offer for the first time. Yorkshire batter Dawid Malan also returns to an annual contract after missing out last year.

Matthew Fisher, Saqib Mahmood and John Turner are offered Development Contracts to support the development of high-potential talent.

Managing Director of England Men’s Cricket, Rob Key, said: "We are rewarding those players who we expect to make a significant impact over the coming years playing for England.

"It is great news and a credit to the players for demonstrating their commitment to English cricket in the ever-changing landscape of the sport.

Three-year central contract: Harry Brook, Joe Root, Mark Wood

Two-year central contract: Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes

One-year central contract: Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley

Development contract: Matthew Fisher, Saqib Mahmood, John Turner