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| July 12, 2005 | Tuesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 4, 1426 |
Injury-prone Shoaib offered central contract
LAHORE, July 11: Speedsters Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and discarded opener Imran Farhat are on the list of 20 senior players who have been offered central contracts by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a year starting from July 1. Thirteen others, who have shown potential to represent Pakistan in future have been offered central retainership contract for a year. It also starts from July 1.
Both Shoaib and Umar have been missing from international cricket scene for different reasons.
Shoaib missed the March/April Indian tour and the West Indies visit in May/June mainly due to fitness and attitude problems. Prior to those tours, he returned home early from Australia because of injury problems.
Shoaib was unavailable for Indian tour, but showed his readiness for the West Indies. He was, however, sidelined by the PCB without giving him a chance to prove match-fitness.
Umar last appeared in the second Test against India in Lahore in April 2004 when he played a key role in Pakistan’s win before being ruled out of the game for last 15 months.
“The PCB has decided only the players’ list for the central contract. Their categories — A or B — will be decided after the return of chairman (Shaharyar M. Khan) from England,” PCB director cricket operations Saleem Altaf said.
He said the players had been offered the contract under the same formula — based on experience and performance — which was introduced last year.
According to the formula, a century in ODI or Test match, five wickets or more in any Test innings or four or more wickets in ODI will give a player five points. Similarly, four catches or more in ODI or in any innings of Test will also give five points.
Achieving national record in any form will earn five points while achieving world record in any form carries 10 points. The number of Tests and ODIs will determine the players’ seniority.
Seniors: Inzamamul Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Asim Kamal, Bazid Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmed, Rana Navedul Hasan, Rao Iftikhar, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal, Danish Kaneria, Arshad Khan.
Retainership: Misbahul Haq, Hasan Raza, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Asif, Yasir Arafat, Najaf Shah, Mohammad Khalil, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Irshad, Imran Tahir, Zulqarnain Haider, Ashar Zaidi, Taufiq Umar.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has yet to receive the biomechanic expert’s report on the suspect bowling action of Test pace bowler Shabbir Ahmed.
A PCB official admitted on Monday that according to a communication received from the ICC, the PCB was to receive the report on Monday from the expert Dr Paul Hurrian of England, who is on the ICC panel.
Earlier, the PCB was expecting the report latest by last Thursday.
Shabbir had appeared before the expert in London on June 11 while returning home from the West Indies after his bowling action was questioned, for the second time, in the first Test in Barbados on May 29.
According to the ICC rules, the PCB had to give report of the expert to the ICC within 21 days after receiving video footage from the match officials, which was received on June 4.
The official further said that another expert Bruce Elliott during his visit to Pakistan last checked Shabbir’s bowling action and expressed confidently that the bowler would get a positive report from the ICC.
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