Monty Panesar may lose central contract

Out of form spinner Monty Panesar and Ian Bell are among the six English cricketers, who are set to take off the list of England's centrally-contracted players when the new deals are announced in the next 15 days.

According to a report The Daily Telegraph, Ryan Sidebottom and Stephen Harmison, who is considering retirement, could also be taken off the centrally-contracted players' list.

"As many as half of England's centrally contracted players could miss out when the next wave of year-long deals is announced," the newspaper reported.

Left-arm spinner Monty has been on decline for the past few months and was not played in the recently-concluded Ashes series against Australia.

Among those who are likely to make the grade are Andrew Strauss, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood. Talismanic all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who has retired from Test cricket, would be given incentives reserved for one-day players.

"Matt Prior and Graeme Swann could be upgraded from increment to full contracts for the first time, having featured respectively in 13 and 12 of England' 14 Tests during the past 12 months," the newspaper said.