Ben Stokes set to sign a two-year contract with ECB: Reports

England’s full time Test skipper Ben Stokes is set to sign a two year contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which will secure his services for the team till the 2025-26 Ashes tour, The Guardian reported. 

Last year Stokes had signed only a one year contract, despite players like Mark Wood, Ollie Pope and Jofra Archer opting for multi-year deals. However, the English skipper has reinstated his commitment to the longest format of the game yet again by being all ready to sign a two year contract. 

Stokes had opted out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the T20 World Cup in 2024 to keep himself fit for England. But he injured his left hamstring in the recently concluded season of The Hundred, and had to sit out the Sri Lanka Tests as a result. 

Stokes was completing a run during the Northern Superchargers' second innings against Manchester Originals in The Hundred, when he abruptly stopped, clutching his left leg. 

He couldn’t walk off the field independently and had to be supported to the dressing room. Later, he was seen walking on crutches after the game. Scans confirmed that it was a hamstring tear and he was ruled out from the Sri Lanka series. 

The all-rounder is now on track to return to the England senior men’s Test set-up during their tour of Pakistan in October this year. He will team up with England’s red ball coach Brendon McCullum, who has been appointed as the white ball head coach as well till the end of 2027.

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