Andrew Strauss and his England team-mates are expected to sign new central contracts before departing for the Ashes and end a stalemate that has lasted for more than a year.
The 11 players who were awarded 12-month deals last September by the England & Wales Cricket Board — thought to be worth between £120,000 and £450,000 per year — have still to put pen to paper on those contracts. But players' union chief executive Angus Porter is confident an agreement will be reached before the team leave for Australia late in October.
The Professional Cricketers' Union hope the ECB will stick to the same contractual arrangements for the next three years, rather than reviewing them on a year-by-year basis. This would not lead to individual players being offered three-year deals, but that the terms of the contracts remain the same until 2013.
"We are very confident the players will sign the contracts before they leave for Australia," Porter said. "It has taken longer than expected because we all wanted to get away from annual agreements.
"We have been working on contracts that will cover a three-year period. In such situations, there is an awful lot of detail to go through.
"There are still some things to be worked out but there are no major issues anywhere."
Of the 11 handed ECB deals last year, Durham's Graham Onions is unlikely to be given another one because he will miss the next nine months due to a back injury. Fellow pace bowler Ryan Sidebottom also looks vulnerable as he has drifted to the fringes of the Test squad.
Batsman Jonathan Trott should be handed a full contract this time, while fast bowler Steven Finn will hope for similar recognition.
