Melbourne: Cricket Australia (CA) provided pacer Mitchell Johnson a lifeline by giving him a central contract, which was formally cut from 25 to 17 here Friday.

The new central contracts for the 2012-13 season were announced after Cricket Australia (CA) came to an agreement with the players' union over the new pay structure.

According to the new contracts, skipper Michael Clarke will earn a base salary of about $2million but it will swell when his captain's allowance and match fees are taken into account.

According to the new agreement signed with the Australian Cricketers' Association, the minimum retainer contract is worth $230,000, with performance payments, including $14,000 for each Test match, $5,600 for a one-day international and $4,200 for a Twenty20 international, The Age reported.

Johnson was lucky to get a contract after a injury plagued season, which as dogged by poor form. He missed the entire summer and it was widely believed that his international career would come to an end.

Ed Cowan, George Bailey, Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith, Brett Lee, Phil Hughes, Doug Bollinger, Usman Khawaja, Tim Paine, Cameron White and Nathan Hauritz missed out.

Cowan is likely to play the required three Tests to be upgraded to a CA contract.

"We believe that this agreement and its player payment model strikes a strong balance - players are well rewarded for playing senior representative cricket within a system that emphasises accountability for performance and ensures the right players are receiving the right payments at the right times," CA chief executive James Sutherland was quoted as saying by the daily.

Cricket Australia contracted players: Michael Clarke, Patrick Cummins, Xavier Doherty, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Johnson, James Pattinson, Ricky Ponting, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Shane Watson. (IANS)