ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Director High Performance Nadeem Khan on Monday claimed that the new pay structure for domestic tournaments would benefit 88 percent of the players.
“We have increased salaries, although match fee has slightly been slashed,” Nadeem told reporters in an online session. “But 88 percent of the players will benefit from the new structure,” he added.
“We have based the new structure on performance and experience. Categories have been defined. Those in the D category will face some loss but they have the chance to perform this season and rise to other categories. It’s an incentive for juniors and because it is performance based you will see juniors in higher categories who performed well last season,” said Nadeem.
“The basic purpose of the new pay structure is that previously both juniors and seniors were getting Rs50,000 each which does not happen in any other field. In the off-season Rs50,000 was too little. In the new package there are incentives for players as match numbers will increase and this will overcome the deficit which players could have faced due to slightly reduced match fee,” Nadeem said.
“Only two departments used to give match fee in the old system and the rest used to give only flat salaries to the players. In the current system if you combine salary and match fee then players will earn substantially higher on annual basis,” Nadeem clarified.
“We have decided to hold the National T20 (first-XI) on the basis of double league system. The basic purpose is to provide an opportunity to the players to play with their full potential. This will also benefit players financially,” Nadeem said.
“As far as level-I coaches are concerned definitely we want to promote club cricket and want professional coaches to coach youth at the club level,” he said. “You know these days there is no coaching uniformity and people use different manuals. We want uniformity from the club level so that it could lead to national high performance centre,” Nadeem said.
“We have formed three categories of clubs. It will automatically eliminate bogus clubs. We are giving playing rights under easy conditions so a club which wants to play will get registration and those clubs which want voting rights will face tough conditions,” said Nadeem. “They have to have at least one level-I coach and meet some other expenses. If you have a qualified coach so you can also run an academy along with the club and generate revenue,” Nadeem said.
“When there are full-member clubs, which have their own grounds, we will start tournaments at the under-13 and under-16 levels,” Nadeem said.
“There is no doubt conditions set for clubs seeking full member status are tough. Chances are that we may see only 30-40 clubs meeting those standards. Even if just 10 clubs meet the criteria we have no issue with it. But clubs seeking full member status have to fulfil all the requirements,” the former left-arm spinner said.
Nadeem, however, said that the criteria to get associate membership was rather easy. “There is no such issue for clubs seeking associate membership of district associations,” he said.
“One condition, however, is a bit demanding — hiring a Level I coach. The PCB will definitely come forward to support clubs looking for Level I coaches as we need uniformity and professionalism. It is also good for former first-class players who need jobs. The High Performance Centre will also train these coaches,” he said.
Nadeem said all bogus clubs would be eliminated in due course. “If a club does not have the basic facilities and structure, it will not have playing right. I expect clubs to generate funds by running camps and renting out their facilities,” he said.
When asked how a club can meet the conditions of raising an under-13 team and having its own gym when the PCB itself has failed to have one for its regional academies in the last 19 years, Nadeem said: “This is not a must for associate members but for clubs seeking full membership. “No one will stop clubs from voting or playing inter-district tournaments if they do not have an Under-13 team or a gym. It does not matter if only 10 clubs in Pakistan have such facilities,” he said.
Nadeem said the scrutiny process would be conducted after clubs started playing active role at district level. “There has been some delay in getting things started because of COVID-19. Hopefully, things will improve and take final shape by December,” he said.
Nadeem said the two-tenure restriction for club office-bearers was set to give other club members a chance. “It will discourage those who continue to stay at the helm of affairs for a long time,” he said.
