July 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 01, 1428

KARACHI, July 16: Former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, all-rounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and prolific batsman Asim Kamal were notable omissions on Monday when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced a list of 20 players who have been awarded new central contracts for six months.

Inzamam, who quit the Pakistan captaincy while announcing his retirement from One-day Internationals after his team was eliminated from the 2007 World Cup, was not found good enough for even to merit the monthly retainers.

Dr Nasim Ashraf, the PCB Chairman, told a press conference at a local hotel that Inzamam, who has already expressed his desire to play Test cricket, was still eligible for Test selection if the national selectors were satisfied with his physical fitness and form.

“It doesn’t mean that his (Inzamam) career is over. If the selectors find that Inzamam meets the criteria of selection and still has something to offer to Pakistan, he can still play,” said Dr Nasim.

The PCB chief assured that players outside the central contracts would very much remain in contention for national selection. “The criteria for central contracts were based on the ICC rankings for Test and ODI players. But let me assure you that players outside this list are also eligible for selection,” he stated.

Dr Nasim added the performance-based contracts would come into operation from Jan 1, 2008. “The contracts we have announced today are based on the performance over the past 12 months and would run from July to December. And since we didn’t have the time to implement the performance-based amendments in the new contracts, it was decided unanimously to implement them from Jan 1 next year,” he clarified.

Inzamam, who was in category ‘A’ of previous central contracts which were suspended after the World Cup, was not the only one to suffer.

Pace bowler Naved-ul-Hasan’s international career appears to be over after the current selectors, led by Salahuddin Ahmed, not only overlooked him for the one-day series in Abu Dhabi and Scotland but also didn’t include him in the list of 33 players nominated for new central contracts.

Naved, who otherwise was an automatic choice in the ODIs, was Man-of-the-Series in the one-day series against the West Indies last December.

However, it was the exclusion of talented batsman Asim Kamal that came as a great surprise on Monday. The 31-year-old dogged left-handed batsman, who averages a respectable 37.73 in 12 Tests, has been constantly sidelined on one pretext or the other.

A regular member of the Test squad, Asim has not been given a chance since appearing in the final Test of the series against England at Lahore in December 2005.

Astonishingly, Misbah-ul-Haq has been awarded a central contract in the ‘C’ category (worth Rs100,000) despite not being among the top 100 players in the ICC rankings for Tests and ODIs. Misbah, now 33, has a dismal track record and in five Test matches, he has averaged only 13.33 and hasn’t played in this form of the game since the first Test of the series against Bangladesh at Karachi in August 2003.

Unlike Asim, Misbah has, however, figured in 12 ODIs (305 runs at 33.88) with his last appearance coming against Zimbabwe at Peshawar in October 2004.

According to the concept of the new contracts, 40 per cent points have been awarded for performance, 20 for seniority, 20 for fitness and the remaining 20 per cent for discipline.

Shoaib Akhtar, the injury-prone fast bowler, is fortunate enough to retain his category ‘A’ central contract despite playing just a solitary Test and four one-dayers in the past 14 months. The maverick pacer’s fitness and disciplinary record has been a chequered one and makes him a marginal qualifier for the contract.

Senior players Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi have also retained their category ‘A’ central contracts.

As expected, Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik earned promotion from category ‘B’ to the Rs250,000 category ‘A’. Also moving up to category ‘A’ are pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, who were previously in category ‘C’.

National vice-captain Salman Butt moves from category ‘C’ to ‘B’ along with fellow opener Imran Farhat. Yasir Hameed and Mohammad Hafeez have been awarded central contracts for the first time and are bracketed in the Rs150,000 category ‘B’. Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Sami and Danish Kaneria keep their places in this category.

Apart from Misbah, Imran Nazir and Yasir Arafat are the other newcomers in category ‘C’ which also includes Rao Iftikhar and Faisal Iqbal.

Bazid Khan, son of batting great Majid Khan, has also been shown the door after being in the category ‘C’.

The monthly retainers are in addition to the match and tour fees and other incentives earned by the players.

Central contracted players:

Category ‘A’: Shoaib Malik (captain), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul.

Category ‘B’: Salman Butt (vice-captain), Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Sami, Kamran Akmal, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Mohammad Hafeez.

Category ‘C’: Faisal Iqbal, Rao Iftikhar, Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Yasir Arafat.