LAHORE: Pakistan’s Champions Trophy-bound cricketers have termed the 15 per cent raise in their central contracts as peanuts.

The 15-member team, which was set to leave for England in the wee hours of Tuesday, wasn’t so excited with the increase which according to well-informed sources accounts for an increase of Rs45, 000 per month for players on category ‘A’ contracts.

“A player falling in the ‘A’ category will now get Rs345, 000 a month but it is very little when compared to what cricketers from other countries are earning,” one of the players told Dawn.

“It means that a player in that category will now get Rs4 million per annum while international cricketers all over the world earn around Rs10 million a year.

“It is appalling that the directors and high-ranking officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) earn more than us despite international cricketers being the main financial source of the body.”

Sources in the PCB confirmed the objections of the players, adding that the PCB has awarded category ‘A’ contracts to some players who aren’t even a part of the Test team.

“No other country offers ‘A’ category contracts to non-Test playing cricketers as they give more importance to the longer format of the game and pay three times more match fees to players than those offered in One-day Internationals,” the source said.

It has also been learnt that the PCB did not give the Champions Trophy-bound cricketers full documents of the central contract, offering them just one page which they signed and returned.