England have kept Michael Vaughan on their full-time payroll and insist the former England captain still has a part to play in regaining the Ashes next year.

Vaughan, who quit as skipper last month and made himself unavailable for the final Test of the summer against South Africa, is one of 12 players to be awarded central contracts today, even though he will struggle to make December's tour of India unless his form improves dramatically.

But chief selector Geoff Miller said: "The award of a central contract reflects the our view that Michael still has a role to play in the England Test squad over the next 12 months.

"As we build towards next summer, we feel that Michael's experience of previous Ashes campaigns and his excellent personal record against Australia will be an important asset."

Vaughan's Yorkshire team-mate Matthew Hoggard has lost his central contract after being dropped in New Zealand six months ago.

He is replaced by fellow paceman Stuart Broad, who was this week nominated by the International Cricket Council as one of the game's emerging talents.

As was the case last year, there is no full-time contract for any of England's wicketkeepers.

But both Matt Prior and Tim Ambrose - along with batsman Owais Shah and all-rounders Ravi Bopara, Samit Patel, Luke Wright and Graeme Swann - have been handed 'increment' contracts, which will earn them a one-off payment on top of their county salaries.

There are no shocks, either, so far as the men new captain Kevin Pietersen will take with him for the £10million challenge match against the Stanford Superstars in Antigua and then to India for seven one-day internationals.

The 14 players picked for the 4-0 NatWest series victory against South Africa, plus Ryan Sidebottom, have all been given the chance to cash-in.

Sidebottom missed the NatWest games through injury but was the team's most consistent performer in all forms of cricket before that and would have been hard done by if left out.

It is Vaughan's appearance on the list of contracted players which will spark most debate.

The soon to be 33-year-old batsman scored only 40 runs in five Test innings against South Africa and has shown no sign of regaining his form since returning to action with Yorkshire. Three knocks have yielded a total of 29 runs and time is running out.

Pietersen wants Vaughan around, however, and even if he cannot justify taking him to India then he will hope his predecessor comes good next year.

Financially, Vaughan is likely to be on one of the smaller contracts, which start at around £100,000 and rise to above £300,000.