PCB announces domestic contracts, introduces A+ category

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Monday announced 2020-21 contracts for 192 domestic players, which it siad were based strictly on criteria, performance and forward-looking approach.

From the 192 players, 10 have been awarded A Plus category comprising leading performers from the 2019-20 first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and those part of the national squad but without a central or emerging contract.

These players are Bilal Asif (Central Punjab), Fahim Ashraf (Central Punjab), Fawad Alam (Sindh), Imran Butt (Balochistan), Imran Khan Snr (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Kashif Bhatti (Balochistan), Khushdil Shah (Southern Punjab), Nauman Ali (Northern), Sohail Khan (Sindh) and Zafar Gohar (Central Punjab).

Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan men’s national team head coach and chief selector, who selected players for the A Plus category, said: “I want to congratulate the 10 players for securing the newly-introduced A Plus category contracts, which is a reward for their efforts and hard work in the 2019-20 season that either earned them recognition in domestic cricket or places in the Pakistan men’s national team.

“I accept there will be a few players who will feel hard done but we could only pick a maximum of 10 players in this category. I want to assure every high-performing player that he will remain available for selection in the side and depending on how he performs in the 2020-21 season, will be in line for an increment next year,” he said.

PCB’s Director High Performance, Nadeem Khan, said: “I have always believed and emphasised criteria and performance-based contracts.

“While setting up the criteria, we have also moved from a fixed slab retainer structure to a category-based retainer structure because I think it is fair on leading or experienced players to be treated and paid differently to a beginner or a starter. Furthermore, this is also consistent to how we offer central contracts to our elite cricketers.

“From these 192 domestic contracted players, 146 cricketers are those who were without any jobs while 24 had contractual employments,” he said. The players in A+ Category will get a monthly retainer of Rs150,000, A Category Rs85,000, B Category Rs75,000, C Category Rs65,000, and D Category Rs40,000.