The Pakistan Cricket Board in its fresh central contract has enhanced the players salary by 25 percent and awarded 42 players the centr5al contract for the next term. The players have been awarded contracts in four categories with 21 having being included in the category A, B and C. Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal have been awarded category A contracts by the PCB for the calendar year 2012. Mohammad Sami, who had been picked in Pakistan’s teams all three formats for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka after being sidelined for two years, has not received a contract.
Afridi had not figured in last year’s list of central contracts as he was in the middle of a spat with the PCB then. Umar Akmal has been moved up from category B.
There are no other changes to the top category: Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman are the others in the premier bracket.
Shoaib Malik, who was not given a contract last year, has been awarded a category B contract, while Abdul Razzaq, who was in the second bracket last year, has been cut from the list. Fast bowler Aizaz Chemma has made the biggest jump, moving from the stipend category up to category B.
In all, 21 players have been given full-fledged contracts, while 21 players have been placed in the stipend category.
Chairman PCB M. Zaka Ashraf announced the award of Central Contracts at the dinner held in honor of the Pakistan teams victory in the 2012 Asia Cup. Chairman PCB had announced a 25 % increase in the Retainer-ship amount for all categories and a 10 % increase in the Match Fee. This is the first increase in Central Contracts in 3 years.
Commenting on the Awarding of Central Contracts Chairman PCB said, “We are pleased to announce the Players Central Contracts for 2012. After 3 years we have increased the fees payable to the Players which we hope will be a morale boost for them. We have also given recognition to those players who have distinguished themselves with consistent performances in the Domestic Circuit. We have also recognized U-19 players in the Central Contract list and this will serve as a huge encouragement for them.”
The 2012 PCB Central Contracted
Players by Category are as follows:
Category A: Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Umer Gul, Muhammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Rehman, Umar Akmal
Category B: Shoaib Malik, Taufeeq Umer, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema
Category C: Sarfraz Ahmad, Adnan Akmal, Hammad Azam, WahabRiaz, Imran Farhat, Faisal Iqbal, Nasir Jamshed.
Stipend: Sohail Tanveer, Khalid Latif, Sharjeel Khan, Shakeel Ansar, Haris Sohail, Raza Hasan, Ahmed Shahzad, Usman Salahuddin, Ayub Dogar, Imran Khan, Bilawal Bhatti, Awais Zia, Shahzeb Hasan, Muhammad Khalil, Anwar Ali, Afaq Rahim, Bismillah Khan, Babar Azam, Sami Aslam, Zia Ul Haq, Usman Qadir.
