Test hopefuls and their respective counties will be watching Lord's on Wednesday as the England hierarchy announces who will be the lucky 12 to benefit from ECB central contracts during 2002.

The contract system was controversially introduced two years ago, much to the chagrin of certain county chairmen, but is now an accepted facet of modern international cricket with the increasing plethora of Tests and ODIs.

Ideally the England coach Duncan Fletcher would like an expanded squad from last year's 12 – up to 25 if he had his way - but the ECB's financial constraints currently prohibit such profligacy and he will have to settle for a round dozen once again this year.

That spells inevitable disappointment for a number of players but with such limited numbers Fletcher and Hussain have been left with little option to experiment overly with promising youngsters and the next generation of England Test stars.

Having said that there is probably room for one "outsider" if the England management feel so inclined, with Warwickshire's Ian Bell the most likely candidate for promotion.

Essentially there are two definite vacancies from last year's 12 and two further possible openings depending on the selectors' decisions.

This was the 2001 group: Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton, Andy Caddick, Dominic Cork, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard, Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan and Craig White.

Of that group Atherton has retired and Cork has faded from contention, opening up two berths. Logically those vacancies should be straightforward to fill with Mark Butcher and Andrew Flintoff stepping up to the altar.

Butcher's Headingley heroics against Australia and a solid series in India should be enough to see him drafted in as Atherton's replacement, while Flintoff was the discovery of the winter and fully deserves the protection and financial reward a central contract brings.

The Lancashire vice-captain was centrally contracted two years ago but missed out in 2001 after injuries and a loss of form.

The other two possible vacancies are less obvious and revolve around White and Stewart.

White has slipped from favour during the winter despite registering a maiden Test century in India and now appears to offer little in the way of penetrative bowling, for so long a vital weapon in his armoury.

Flintoff's impressive emergence as a genuine Test all-rounder has hardly helped White's cause and it may be that Bell, flown out to New Zealand as cover for Butcher during the Test series, will be included at his expense.

The Warwickshire batsman has long been marked down as a potential Test star and he impressed everyone involved during this winter's exertions with the English Cricket Academy in Adelaide.

Although still just 19 – he will be 20 on April 11 – Bell offers a tantalising glimpse of England's future and the sooner he becomes involved at the highest level the better.

Mark Ramprakash is, conceivably, his sternest rival for White's contract but the Surrey man had a torrid winter with the bat and is likely to miss out as a result.

The other unresolved contract involves Stewart and will probably cause the greatest discussion.

It would seem the selectors have three option as far as the wicketkeeper's position goes:

(i)Stick with the tried and trusted and renew Stewart's contract.
(ii)Show faith and loyalty to James Foster by backing the Essex stumper.
(iii)Go slightly leftfield and offer the contract to Glamorgan's impressive 20-year-old Mark Wallace, another who caught the eye of Rod Marsh at the England Cricket Academy.

For my money I'd stick with Foster and make sure he gets the best coaching possible to help improve his foot and glove work. It is the long term option and would be a massive boost for the under-fire Essex 'keeper but England could prefer the safety-first approach of backing Stewart.

That would be a backward step in my eyes as it was Stewart's own decision not to tour India – and thereby allow Foster to stake his claim – and the Surrey player turned 39 this week.

The other winter absentee, Darren Gough, appears a shoe-in for the ECB contract even though Thorpe was temporarily left to stew when he (likewise) opted out of winter duties two years ago.

Bearing all that in mind the probable 12 will be: Hussain, Trescothick, Vaughan, Butcher, Thorpe, Bell, Flintoff, Foster, Giles, Caddick, Gough and Hoggard.

9 Apr, 2002