PCB to give priority to seniors in the 2015 contracts

PCB to give priority to seniors in the 2015 contracts: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has made its mind to give priority to the seniors in the new central contracts that will be valid from 1st July to 31st December, 2015. The new contract will have the captains of all three formats in category A. And the official announcement of the 31 players who are to be offered contracts will be made after the board of governors meeting on Saturday.

“A total of 31 players are being given central contracts and the board has decided after consulting with the national selectors and the present captains to place seniors in the top category,” the source said.

Recent reports reveal that Category A will be for Misbah-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali, Shahid Afridi, the captains of Test, ODI and T20 respectively, along with veteran Younis Khan and all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez. PCB has made this decision after considering several factors as the source added

“There were a lot of discussions on whether to give players who only play one or two forms of the game the top bracket but keeping in mind the seniority involved it was decided to five seniority of players first consideration and then performances and fitness,”

The Pakistan off spinner Saeed Ajmal failed to make it to the top category due to his problems related to his bowling action. The category B also includes 5 key players according to reports which read “Category B will also feature around five players including Ahmed Shehzad, Junaid Khan, Asad Shafiq, Rahat Ali etc.”

The C and D categories consists of 21 players which include promising youngsters and excellent players from domestic cricket. PCB believes that this will boost their confidence to perform even better. Reports say that contracts will be sent to Sri Lanka in order to finish the formalities. “The central contracts once approved by the governing board will be sent to Sri Lanka for the players to complete the signing process but before the team left for Sri Lanka some of the seniors have already signed them.”

PCB has done a decent job to avoid any controversies and has been fair to senior players. This contract has been perfectly designed by including the right players in the right categories.