PCB awards central contracts to 27 players in four categories

LAHORE (92 News) – The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the award of its Players Central Contracts for the year 2015-16 (July 15–June 16) to 27 players in four categories. According to a press release issued by the PCB, this bunch is a blend of seasoned players with proven credentials and emerging talent with potential to represent Pakistan across three formats. The remunerations – both the monthly retainer as well as match fees – have been increased across the board along with restoring the win bonuses and performance incentives. The PCB had issued Player Central Contracts in June 2015 for the term January 1-June 3, 2015. This was done to better align the central contract term with the cricket season as well as the financial year. At the time of issuing the contracts, the PCB had informed that the management and the Pakistani players will be holding negotiations to further improve the existing central contract draft. After detailed and inclusive negotiations between the PCB management and the representatives of the Pakistan players, national Test and ODI captains Misbahul Haq, Azhar Ali and Team Pakistan Mushtaq Ahmed, the following was agreed upon between the PCB management and Pakistan national cricketers. A detailed financial formula was agreed for the next three years (July 1, 2015-June 30, 2018). Under the formula, the PCB will award fresh contracts for each year of the three-year term. Test, ODI, & T20I fees were agreed with increases for the next 3 years (July 1, 2015-June 30, 2018) as follows: Central Contracts 2015-16 Category ‘A’: Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan. Category ‘B’: Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Junaid Khan, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah. Category ‘C’: Anwar Ali, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaan Masood, Umar Akmal Category ‘D’: Babar Azam, Sami Aslam, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Amin, Zulfiqar Babar.