June 03, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17, 1428

LAHORE, June 2: The 18-day specialisation coaching camp, attended by Pakistan’s leading bowlers and openers, ended on Saturday at the Gaddafi Stadium on a disappointing note as none of the players were paid their daily allowance.

Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul along with openers Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez were among the 38 national and international cricketers, who attended the camp in scorching heat under the coaching of Wasim Akram.

Staff of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) including Mudassar Nazar, Aaqib Javed and others supervised the camp.

Some players, who came from other cities, told Dawn, on the condition of anonymity, that they faced financial hardship during their stay in Lahore for the camp, since the PCB did not pay a single penny to them.

The players said since professional cricketers were attending the camp on the PCB instructions, they should have been paid some pocket-money to meet the expenditure to contact their families or to travel.

They added the players were the real asset of the PCB, but it seems, the players said, the NCA is using them just to show its performance without considering the cricketers’ welfare.