PCB delays central contracts

Board wants no distraction on players’ part during training camp.

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has delayed the issuance of central contracts to the players, as the board waits for the completion of a month-long training camp being held in Lahore before announcing the list of players to be awarded the contracts.

There were reports circulating in the media that PCB will be announcing the contracts soon with a pay-raise. However, according to the national selectors, that will not be the case as they believe that any announcement at this point may make negative impact on players who will not be awarded contracts.

The idea behind delaying the announcement is that whoever will miss out on a contract will not give their 100% in the fitness training camp, which will kill the main purpose of the 30-day long activity being carried out at the Gaddafi Stadium and the National Cricket Academy.

“The central contracts will be announced towards the end of this fitness training camp,” one of the selectors told The Express Tribune.

“We don’t want any distractions during this camp because we want all the players to focus hard on taking their fitness to new levels.

“We want to ensure that all players give their best in the camp and we will take their fitness levels into account before finalising central contract list.”

Hopeful 39 training in the camp

In all, 39 players are taking part in the camp, including Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Sharjeel Khan, Taufiq Umer, Shan Masood, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Khurram Manzoor,  Misbahul Haq, Asad Shafiq, Younus Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Adnan Akmal, Umar Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Sohaib Maqsood, Haris Sohail, Fawad Alam, Sami Aslam, Umar Amin, Babar Azam,  Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, Abdul Rehman, Zulfiqar Babar, Raza Hasan, Atif Maqbool and Yasir Shah.

Meanwhile, the pacers taking part in the camp are Umer Gul, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Talha, Ehsan Adil, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Sohail Tanvir and Aizaz Cheema.

Azhar Ali has been advised a four-week rest by the doctors and he will not be able to attend the camp.

Meanwhile, another PCB official revealed that approval of budget from the Management Committee (MC) and to keep players involved are the reasons for the delay.

“The issue of central contracts will be on hold for two reasons,” he said. “One to keep players involved and the other is that a recommendation for increasing central contract salary of players has been given. But that needs to be approved in the new budget which will be presented to the MC in coming weeks.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2014.

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