How England stars are snubbing red ball cricket

Alex Hales is no longer playing red ball cricket. Photo / Getty

Two of England's ODI squad in New Zealand have turned their backs on red ball cricket.

First Yorkshire's legspinner Adil Rashid opted to switch to limited-overs, white ball cricket only, which has disappointed his county, who had awarded him a testimonial this year; now batsman Alex Hales is shooting through on first-class cricket to focus on one-day and T20 cricket with Nottinghamshire.

Neither Hales nor Rashid have played test cricket since 2016. Nottinghamshire are said to be happy with Hales' decision — or at least accepting of it — whereas Yorkshire are known to be very disappointed by Rashid's call, which comes in the year his county have awarded him a benefit season.

"It wasn't an easy decision to make but it's something I felt I had to do,'' Rashid said. ''If I was to go back to playing red ball early in the season, a bit inside me would have said 'I'm just playing because I have to' but I had to make that decision and say 'no, I can't just go through the motions'.''

There is a bigger picture developing, with the prospect of more players around the world seeing their future in short form cricket, and their financial reimbursement improved at the same time.

"We are seeing players having more power and more options than ever before, and we will certainly see many more players opting to go down this route,'' one English county executive said.

White ball-only contracts generally aren't worth as much as those for players available and chosen for all forms of the game.

Nottinghamshire won both white-ball trophies in England last year, with Hales scoring 434 runs in the one-day competition at an average of 72.33, including 187 not out in the final.

A new eight-team T20 competition is due to start in 2020. That is likely to sharpen the focus of both players eyeing an opportunity, and counties figuring how to spend their money.

In New Zealand, fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan, who has fashioned a highly impressive T20 career, stepped away from a New Zealand Cricket Contract this year — while still available for selection — to free himself to take up any T20 franchise work around the world.

Blockbusting opener Colin Munro is known to have at least pondered the idea before sticking with New Zealand, to terrific effect this season.

■ New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner and fast bowler Neil Wagner have taken up English county deals this year. Santner is heading for Derbyshire while Wagner, who only plays test cricket for his country, is returning for a second term with Essex and will play all three forms.