New central contracts will be ‘even better’!

KARACHI: Pakistani cricket officials are confident of chalking out a comprehensive blue-print for a new central contract system for the country’s leading players that would be ‘even better’ than the one recently announced by neighbours India, writes Khalid Hussain.

A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official told ‘The News’ on Monday that experts are currently reviewing the contract systems in place in Australia, India and England adding that the Board would soon announce new contracts for its players based on a performance-based system.

“We are reviewing contract systems in use in three different countries including India and are confident of devising a new pay structure that would be even better,” said PCB’s Media Director Dr Ahsan Hameed Malik.

Pakistan suspended all central contracts of their players after the country’s shocking first round exit from the World Cup in the Caribbean last month. The Board had announced that the new contracts of the players would be based on performance rather seniority as has been the practice in the past. It said in March that new central contracts would be announced within the next 90 days.

Malik said that there is a strong possibility that a new system would be finalised by the time the PCB ad-hoc committee would meet next month. The ad-hoc committee discussed the central contracts for the players at length in its meeting in Lahore on Monday.

Malik said that it is expected that the country’s top twenty players would be given central contracts by the Board for a 12-month period. The contracts would be based on the performance of the players from July 2006 to June this year which means that the results of this month’s three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi would also be considered by the Board.

Pakistan toured England last summer, losing the four-match Test series 0-3 and later played a 2-2 draw in the five-match ODI contest there. Later, Pakistan were bundled out in the first round of the ICC Champions Trophy in India last fall, a result that was followed by a successful home series against the West Indies in which they won both in Tests and one-dayers.

Pakistan had a disappointing tour of South Africa earlier this year and then flopped miserably in the World Cup. All these failures may show on the new central contract system.Malik said that in addition to the central contracts, the Board would also keep several young and promising cricketers on a healthy retainer.

“The Board has decided to pay top performers on the domestic scene on a regular basis,” he said.Malik said that the PCB would assure that the players, playing for Pakistan as well as others, are well-looked after.

Like Pakistan, India too revised their pay system for leading players after their team was knocked out of the World Cup first round. The Indian board decided to cut the players’ retainers from Rs 20-50 lakh to a flat Rs five lakh each, but announced that the cricketers would get handsome rewards if they performed well in Tests and ODIs.