February 15, 2008	Friday	Safar 07, 1429

LAHORE, Feb 14: While the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has stopped the monthly pension of retired Test cricketers, it has approved a hefty bonus for its entire staff on winning the lowly-rated home series against Zimbabwe.

No former Test cricketer has received his monthly pension for Jan 2008 while the PCB announced fifty percent gross salaries in bonus for all but five of its staff members who, for some odd reason, have been awarded a ‘double bonus’.

When contacted, the PCB media director Ahsan Hameed Malik said the pension had been stopped for the time being as new approval was required for its release in 2008.

But this is not a normal practice in Pakistan as the pensioners are supposed to receive a certain amount till his/her death.

In the first phase, the PCB had decided to award pension to Test cricketers who played Test cricket till 1978. Although more retired cricketers were to be included in the second phase, there has been no progress in that direction so far.

The PCB had also announced pension for retired Test umpires but could only give a specific amount to a few of the retired ones.

Regarding the double bonus to five PCB employees, Malik expressed his ignorance on the matter. “I don’t know about any such decision of double bonuses for some of the employees,” he said.