LAHORE: Separate contracts will be awarded to players representing Pakistan in red and white-ball formats while number of centrally-contracted players will be increased, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced Friday.

The decision was taken in the 69th meeting of the PCB Board of Governors (BoG), which took place at the National High Performance Centre here on Thursday.

“The thought-process behind splitting red and white-ball contracts is to recognise the importance of white-ball cricket in the growth and development of the game,” PCB chairman Ramiz Raja was quoted as saying in a statement.

“We have four international events in the next 16 months, including two World Cups.

“This recognition of offering contracts to white-ball specialists will help us to eventually develop two separate squads, which could simultaneously be engaged in white and red-ball cricket.”

Other changes in the men’s central contract structure will see increased retainers for the players, the number of whom will rise to 33 from 20 when the central contracts list are announced for 2022-23.

A new “Category ‘D’” will also be introduced for players who are “staging comebacks or knocking at the doors of international cricket”.

The BoG also decided to increase retainers for women’s international team players by 15 per cent. “In addition to this, the pool of women’s centrally contracted players may be increased from 20 players to up to 25 players,” the statement said.

While the BoG approved a Rs15billion budget for the PCB — of which 78 per cent was allocated for cricket-related activities — it also green-signaled the creation of a “charitable trust” named Pakistan Cricket Foundation.

The initiative will “aim to look after the welfare and wellbeing of its retired cricketers, match officials, scorers and ground staff”. A donation of Rs100million to the trust was also approved in principle.

The PCB’s budget has been finalised keeping in consideration that Pakistan will host the 2023 Asia Cup and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.

“The BoG approved an allocation of funds for the upgradation of the infrastructure and stadia, which includes floodlights, replay screens, player dressing rooms and new spectator chairs,” said the board’s statement.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2022