July 20, 2007	Friday	Rajab 04, 1428

LAHORE, July 19: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has substantially compensated two of country’s leading fast bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, for not playing county cricket in England on the advice of the board in an attempt to avoid burn-out of the key players.

Sources told Dawn that Asif and Umar were paid around Rs nine million each which is much better than what they could possibly earn through county cricket after paying about 40 per cent in taxes to the British government and other expenditures.

While the board had advised the two fast bowlers not to play county cricket to avoid injury and burn-out, it had permitted Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shabbir Ahmad to go ahead with their county commitments, a clear hint that they would not be a part of the team for the rest of the season.

The PCB had faced a lot of problems in fielding a strong team during the past few series since both Asif and Umar Gul remained on the injury list for a considerably longer time. Asif, in fact, had sustained an elbow injury at the start of the county cricket last year and missed the major part of Pakistan's tour to England.

Similarly, Umar Gul was forced to miss almost the entire tour of South Africa in January this year due to hairline fracture in his shin which was caused by non-stop cricket at top level.

The scheme of compensation has only been introduced for the fast bowlers while leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and middle-order batsman Younis Khan are still engaged in county cricket.

Sources said the PCB had further compensated both Asif and Umar Gul by including them in the ‘A’ category of the central contracts.