WORCESTERSHIRE'S Graeme Hick missed out when the England and Wales Cricket Board today announced the 12 players who will be offered six-month contracts for the forthcoming series against Pakistan and Australia.
The 12 includes 10 members of the side who won the third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo earlier this month, plus Yorkshire pace bowler Matthew Hoggard and Derbyshire all-rounder Dominic Cork.
Hick has paid the price for disappointing performances during the winter tour of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, while Andrew Flintoff's persistent injury problems appear to have cost him his place.
Glamorgan spinner Robert Croft also fails to make the 12, with Hoggard and Cork's inclusion down to the seamer-friendly conditions for the home series.
The 12 contracted England players are: Hussain (Essex), Atherton (Lancs), Caddick (Somerset), Cork (Derby), Giles (Warwicks), Gough, Hoggard (Yorks), Stewart, Thorpe (Surrey), Trescothick (Somerset), Vaughan (Yorks), White (Yorks).
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