PCB announces central contracts for women cricketers

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced renewed central contracts for women cricketers today (Friday) for the year 2020-21.

According to a press release issued by the cricket board, left-arm spinner Anam Amin and middle-order batter Omaima Sohail are the new entries in the PCB women’s central contract list for 2020-21, which will come into effect from 1 July.

Bismah Maroof, Javeria Khan, and Diana Baig are the three players to get promotions at the back of their international performances in the just-concluded 2019-20 season.

The nine central contracts see an increase of 33 percent in the monthly retainers of the Category A players, while players in Category B and C will receive 30 and 25 percent rise, respectively.

In a significant boost for the domestic cricketers, the match fee and event prize money have been increased by 100 percent, while daily allowances have been increased by 50 percent.

In a continuation to last year, the Pakistan national women’s team will travel business class on all flights longer than five hours.

The cricket board has also announced an emerging central contract list to award rising cricketers for their performances. The list of emerging categories contains nine players including Ayesha Naseem, Fatima Sana, Kainat Hafeez, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui, Najiha Alvi, Rameen Shamim, Saba Nazir, Sadia Iqbal, and Syeda Aroob Shah.

While announcing the central contracts Urooj Mumtaz, the chair of the national women’s selection committee, said, “On behalf of the selection committee, I would like to congratulate all the players who have received the central contracts.”

“The selection committee had detailed deliberations prior to announcing the central contracts. International performances over the past 12 months, fitness standards, and the players’ ability to contribute in both white-ball formats were key measures that formed the criteria for the selection,” she concluded.