Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) held its 69th Board of Governors meeting and took consequential decisions pertaining to important cricketing matters.
Under the chairmanship of Ramiz Raja, the board convened at the National High-Performance Centre on Thursday.
The most important decision taken by the board was an increase in the operational activity-based annual budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year. PCB approved a budget of PKR15billion with 78 percent allocated to cricket-related activities.
The budget would be spent on enhanced central contracts for men’s and women’s cricketers, men’s and women’s international and domestic cricket events in the 2022-23 cricket season with additional local tournaments and matches, the HBL Pakistan Super League 8 and the inaugural Pakistan Junior League.
In addition to the operational budget, 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.
PCB Board of Governors also took several decision regarding player contracts to narrow down the salary chasm between Pakistani players and the players from other countries. For that PCB approved following changes.
- Separate red and white-ball contracts with increased retainers
- Number of centrally contracted players increased from 20 to 33
- Introduction of Category “D”, which will be comprise players who are staging comebacks or knocking at the doors of international cricket
- 10 per cent increase in match fees across all formats
- Increase in match fee for non-playing members from 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the overall match fee
- Introduction of a captaincy allowance to compensate the team captain for the additional responsibilities that come with that role
- Allocation of an amount for current players with the aim to manage and reduce the workload of elite players and to ensure that they are fully fit, ready and fresh whenever they play for Pakistan
For women’s central contracts, there will be a 15 per cent increase in retainers across all categories, with a single contract concept. In addition to this, the pool of women’s centrally contracted players may be increased from 20 players to up to 25 players.
The PCB will shortly announce the list of men’s and women’s central contracts for 2022-23, which will come into effect from 1 July 2022.
