PCB announces salary, match fee hike for centrally contracted players

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced a 15 percent salary hike and a 10 percent increase in match fees this year for the 21 players receiving central contracts.

The contracts, up for renewal in January, were finally handed to players before they left for Britain for the ICC Champions Trophy, with the hike giving 'A' category players a monthly salary of Rs.3,59 375 and a Test match fee of Rs.4,40 000 rupees, Sport24 reports.

The report further said that 'B' category players will get a monthly salary of Rs.2, 51 562 and players in the 'C' category, Rs.1, 43 750.

According to the report, all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who was dropped from the one-day squad for next month's ICC Champions Trophy in England, was lucky to retain his place in the 'A' category, along with Test and one-day captain Misbah-ul Haq, Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez, bowler Saeed Ajmal and Younis Khan.

The report further said that spearhead Umar Gul, batsman Umar Akmal and spinner Abdul Rehman were demoted to 'B' category after their lacklustre performances last year, and have joined ranks with Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Junaid Khan, Shoaib Malik and Nasir Jamshed.

The report also mentioned that wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal, who regained his central contract after losing out last year, was placed in the 'C' category along with Mohammad Irfan, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Aizaz Cheema, Adnan Akmal, Faisal Iqbal and Ahmad Shahzad.

The PCB keeps 21 players on central contracts in three categories, marked by three different scales for retainers and match fees, the report added.