September 01, 2007	Saturday	Sha’aban 18, 1428

LAHORE, Aug 31: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in a bid to hold back the potential Indian Cricket League aspirants, announced a bumper financial package on Friday for all its contracted players.

The announcement was made by PCB chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf at a function organised to introduce the board’s talent hunt programme at a local hotel here.

“Players falling in the ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ categories will receive US$100,000, $50,000 and $25,000 as bonus for signing the central contracts with the PCB,” the chairman said.

“I salute those players who rejected the ICL’s offer and the doors are also open for those who have signed with the Indian League but want to change their mind,” he said.

Prolific batsmen Mohammad Yousuf, former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, seasoned all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and opener Imran Farhat have joined the ICL recently after criticising PCB policies. They claimed to have joined it not for the money but in protest of PCB’s apathy towards the senior cricketers.

There have also been strong rumours that more players, currently on the tour of South Africa for the Twenty20 World Championship, are in touch with the ICL. However, PCB’s new package may convince them into changing their mind.

It is already known that two of Pakistan’s main pacers – Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif – have been chased by the ICL while Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik has admitted to being contacted by them.

Although the PCB has shown little interest in wooing back either of Inzamam, Razzaq or Imran Farhat, it is definitely keen on convincing Yousuf to change his mind but has failed to get a positive response from him.

“I could hardly make contact with Yousuf on Thursday evening,” said Dr Ashraf. “Yousuf is in Dir on a religious mission and was not ready to discuss the issue, saying he wanted to focus on preaching.”

He, however, added that Yousuf was likely to reach Lahore by Sept 22 after which the board would discuss the matter with him in detail. The PCB chief also announced a package for all members of the Pakistan under-19 team for completing a successful tour of England tour.

Each player will receive Rs150,000 and the three officials accompanying the side will pocket Rs75,000 respectively.The under-19 outfit drew the two four-day match series and won the five-match ODI contest 3-1 while one match was washed out.

The chairman also appreciated the efforts of both the national senior and junior selection committees, pointing out that theirs was a difficult job which was being performed satisfactorily.

“The selectors have to pick out the best from a huge population of 160 million which is indeed not an easy task,” he said.

The chairman also said that the PCB would improve and renovate some 100 grounds in the next three years – working on 30 grounds per year.

Zouhair A. Khaliq of the sponsoring company, while announcing the programme for the nationwide talent hunt, said it would the scheme will be starting from Sept 1 and will continue till Jan 1, 2008 when the players who come under the under-16 age group will be picked up from all over Pakistan for further training. The programme is planned for three years and Haroon Rasheed has been made in-charge of the same.