PCB comes to a verbal agreement with Pakistan players over contracts issue

The 15 member World cup squad along with the 18 players who were not selected for the mega event had earlier refused to agree to the three-month central contracts offered by the PCB.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reached a verbal agreement with the national team players that they won’t have to sign the three-month contract.

According to a CricketCountry report, a source said, “Instead of a three-month central contract, the board has verbally assured the players that when they return home, they will be issued fresh 12-month contracts backdated from January 1, 2015.”

“These tour contracts will ensure the board has legal documents binding the players to certain clauses and vice versa,” added the source.

The 15 member World cup squad along with the 18 players who were not selected for the mega event had earlier refused to agree to the three-month central contracts offered by the PCB. The senior players came up with issues over certain clauses and loss of payments in the three-month contract granted to them, while touring New Zealand.

Manager Naved Akram Cheema, who is accompanying the Pakistan team at New Zealand, asked them to sign the three-month contracts but the players chose not to. Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal on behalf of all the players later met with the board officials at Lahore to settle the matter.

“The players contention is simple that when the board gave them 12-month contracts last year after a few months delay and in backdate they can do the same thing this year and there was no need for the three-month contracts,” added Ajmal.

Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi have announced that they will retire from One-Day Internationals (ODIs) after the World cup while Younis Khan is also unlikely to play the shorter format post World Cup. All three senior players were given category A contracts last year. Hence, the Board decided to give temporary contracts and then would grant long-term contracts.

“The board decided to end this deadlock over signing of the contracts as it was clearly distracting the players’ preparations for the World Cup, so now the matter is sorted out after the verbal agreement between the two parties,” a source said.

About the Author