...just when every thing seemed on track

[Zainub]

Shoaib refuses to sign contract on eve of team's departure By Dawn Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 28: Controversy once again gripped Pakistan cricket on the eve of team's departure for Australia on Sunday when speedster Shoaib Akhtar refused to sign the central contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) , objecting over a clause related to individual sponsorships. Among the 17 selected by the PCB for central contracts, Shoaib was the only player who did not sign the contract because the clause says players must seek permission from the PCB before signing individual sponsorships and endorsement contracts.

The PCB, for the first time offered central contracts to its players but board's hasty decisions has created an unnecessary controversy. The board faces a big problem since the issue has cropped up at a time when the team is to play three Tests in Australia followed by a tri-angular tournament featuring Pakistan, West Indies and the hosts. Although Shoaib has not signed the contract, PCB chief Shaharyar M. Khan, said he would be travelling to Down Under along with the squad. "This is true. Shoaib has not signed the central contract yet, but it is not a big problem.

He is concerned over a clause about players signing individual contracts. He has informed the PCB that he would like to consult his lawyer before signing the contract. He could sign the contract later," Shaharyar told a press conference. The disclosure about Shoaib's refusal came only after Shaharyar had been asked to explain the reason for not signing the contract. According to reports, Shoaib had originally been bracketed in the B category and yielded when the speed merchant expressed his displeasure. Shoaib and Abdul Razzaq were eventually elevated to A category.

Shoaib's refusal to sign the contract is understandable since he has recently shot commercials in India, besides signing for Worcestershire for the 2005 season. The controversy has also raised questions about Shoaib's future and whether he would be playing all the three Tests and the tri-angular event. West Indies cricket officials recently did not consider 16 players, including Brian Lara for the tour Down Under when they refused to sign the similar contracts. Besides Shoaib and Razzaq, Inzamamul Haq, Yousuf Youhana are also in A grade. Shabbir Ahmed and Taufiq Umar have been offered central contracts, although they are not in squad for Australia, while newcomers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Khalil, who will tour Australia, have not been offered the contracts.

"Asif and Khalil have been asked to play two Tests so that they could meet the requirement of having at least 10 points," PCB official said. While Shoaib's refusal has triggered a controversy, there are questions over the criteria adopted by the PCB to select players for the central contracts. PCB chief said the contracts had been offered to the players just 24 hours before the departure of the team to Australia and admitted that even the Patron-in-Chief, the President of Pakistan, had not been consulted while preparing the central contracts. "We have offered the contract a day before the team's departure to Australia but players were not under any pressure to sign the contracts. We also consulted Woolmer, Inzamam and Wasim Bari this morning," he said. "The central contracts have been made on my own responsibility and we have not consulted the Patron-in-Chief."

Surprisingly, performance has taken a back seat as players have been categorized on the basis of their seniority, while other countries consider performance for the grading of players for the central contracts. "We have offered central contracts considering the pattern of other countries but we have adopted our own criteria for its terms and conditions. We have focussed on seniority rather than performance," Shaharyar said. "Seniority will be assessed on points system in which a player is given five points for playing a Test and one point for a One-day International. Player will qualify for the A, B, and C categories on the basis of points. The basic condition for qualifying for the central contract is two Tests matches," the PCB official said.

He said PCB had also told players to inform the anti-match-fixing committee of the ICC if an offer came, while PCB would also decide when the players could take their wives along with them on offshore tours. Players bracketed in A category will get Rs,200,000 a month, while B and C will receive Rs125,000 and 75,000 respectively. The first central contracts will be of seven-month duration and will be effective from Dec 1, 2004 and end on June 30, 2005. The second central contracts will be on annual basis, starting from July 1, 2005. The slab system would continue, while there would be no bonuses, the PCB official said but added that rewards would be given on good performance, while the players not offered central contracts could be included later on the basis of their showing.

Players would be required to play at least three matches during the domestic season and physical fitness would also be a pre-requisite for signing the central contract or the emoluments of the players would be withheld until they reached the required level of fitness, the official said. "Although we have initiated the central contracts, we will review them after the end of the first contract," the officials said and added that if a player was called to replace an injured one, he would not be offered central contract. However, he added a player could be offered a central contract if he showed extraordinary performance. The following is the grading under the central contracts (points in brackets):

A GRADE: Inzamamul Haq (808), Yousuf Youhana (446), Abdul Razzaq (325), Shoaib Akhtar (283).
B GRADE: Shahid Afridi (261), Younis Khan (255), Mohammad Sami (146), Shoaib Malik (120).
C GRADE: Danish Kaneria (110), Yasir Hameed (104), Imran Farhat (86), Shabbir Ahmed (64), Kamran Akmal (48), Asim Kamal (37), Rana Naveedul Hasan (19), Salman Butt (11), Taufiq Umar (128).

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And just when I thought we were heading off safely to Australia with a positive frame of mind clear in our aims and focused towards the mission we were hoping to accomplish...an utterly needless controversy over the long awaited introduction of central contracts. Surely, after all the time we've waited to give our players this incentive we could have waited another 10 weeks, this business should have been left for the players to deal with after they came back from the Australian tour. I do think though, that this report here has perhaps blown the concerns a lit out of proportion. Shoaib merely seeks to consult his lawyer over a certain clause he's not sure with, and that is perfectly understandable. I suspect he will eventually sign the contract; this situation is no where even close to being as serious as things are in the West Indies right now.

The only thing is why now, on the eve of such an important tour should we have risked our players losing their focus, and worrying about which Grade they will be grouped. It is an inevitable fact that you can never do anything that will satisfy everyone, I'm sure some players, rightly or wrongly, that's not the point, but they will be felt hard done in one way or the other, and hence will be taking some grudges with them selves to Australia. Not sure I think that is the ideal frame of mind I would have wanted every one to be in. But then, followers of cricket in this country, have become all to used to such frequent unexplainable acts, insanity, not quite perhaps the appropriate word in this case, but more often then not it is, is not a new entity to Pakistan followers. As a matter of fact it’s been so frequently witnessed in recent times that it almost appears normal at times. Huh, at least there is always one thing I can rely on...hope.

[Maranello]

ZR, two comments:

1. It is not as bad as you think it is, and the "controversy" even if there is one, was resolved a few days ago. Shoaib was initially unhappy about a week ago that he might be in category B, but that was changed soon thereafter. There has been a fair bit of press coverage of the whole thing in the Jang, Nation, News etc. So the categorisation issue was resolved, no controversy there

2. Shoaib not signing is not really a controversy for the team, only a headache for his lawyer and the PCB lawyers. The captain or the other players are not really concerned whether Shoaib has signed a piece of paper or not, they are interested in whether he gives his all on the field. His concerns are perfectly valid questions about his own commercial value and how it is exploited/utilised; I would not expect any adult to sign a one year employment without legal counsel or some other advice on its ramifications. That is all the guy is doing, and I do not think Inzamam or Woolmer care either way about his commercial endoresements or contractual negotations; they are interested in his commitment on the field and in the training ground.
Hence, not really a problem; I can empathise with your worries as these people do have form on this, but on this occassion your concerns are misplaced.

[Zainub]

I so badly hope you a right, and my concerns remain just that, concerns. May I sounded a bit over cautious there, but can you blame me, really, especially with the reputation of doing eccentric things our board has. Anyway, yesterday night, I was watching this talk show on a private channel, I guess it was called I PLUS, I don't tune into it that often just came across it while surfing. Amongs the guests were cheif selector Wasim Bari, captain Inzi and veteran journalist Qamar Khan. The host of the show had a good long chat about our prospects for the Australia tour, it was good discussion, and Inzi seemed very poised, more then just optimistic I would say about our chances. In particular it was heartenning to see him being full of praise for Danish Kaneria. He has some hopes for him. Then finally, towards the end of the show, they discussed this buisness of central contracts.

Suddenly you could sense Wasim Bari getting a bit anxious, he claimed he was not contacted before the decision of giving these players contracts was taken - though he added he thought it was the right move - but categorically denied having any say in who gets classified into which grade. He sounded a bit dodgy, if you know what I mean..And then, there was Inzi, as calm as ever, clearfying to the host of the show how everything within the team was in good spirits. Of coarse I agreed with him on that. But I'm not sure if you can't say the whole issue did well indeed turn into a sort of minor controversy.

The host, like me, argued that perhaps the timing of handing out these contrats could have been better. May be it isn't that big an issue but for some reason my gut feeling was that we should have waited until after this tour to get this thing done. Now to Shoaib Akhtar, from what I have been reading in the Urdu daily Express, initially only Inzi and Youhanna were categorised as Grade A players, and that of caorse was something Akhtar was not comfortable with, when he argued for a place along side the skipper and his deputy so did Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi - and this was something that was debated on for a while - I guess you can call that a controversy. Although that despute has now been resolved, Shoaib and his lawyer, KTN news channel reported today were still not satisfied with a certain clause on sponsirship deals outside the PCB's official sponsors. And they will only contemplate signing on the contract until after the Australian tour. I hope though that you are right, and it turns out all my concerns and those expressed within the Dawn report I initially posted are misplaced.

[Maranello]

Thank you for the clarification, agree that Bari is a bit tetchy about the whole thing. But then my experience of Bari is that he is in essence a typical babu or beauracrat. Wants to protect his turf at all costs, and would do anything to prevent encroachments on it.

The Dawn and its cricket correspondents with the exception of Kureishi have a tendency to find controversy where none exists, even if this involves inventing stories; there are numerous clarifications, corrections and put-downs on Woolmer's website to the Dawn's misguided rumour-mongering and conspiracy theory-pedalling behaviour. Tabloid journalism at its worst! (even though the paper has pretensions to be a quality broadsheet)

[Zainub]

I think the entire Pakistan print media has that tendency, and I actually think the News is more of that blow out of proportion kind, but you're right despite my bias in favor Dawn, a newspaper I've been reading for as long as I have been able to read, I can't help but admit that at times they reviews can be a bit misleading. Kureishi too, him self a brilliant journalist, can get at times a little carried away. He has that canny style, that ability to persue readers but I have had my fair share of disagreements with him too over the years, the latest being his stance on walking. I'm pro and he's anti ;-)

[Zainub]

Originally Posted by Omar Kureishi

Where was the need for the PCB to get members of the team bound for Australia to sign central contracts on the eve of their departure? Was there any particular compulsion or legal formality that had to be fulfilled? Was there any kind of pressure on the PCB or some kind of ultimatum? Leave alone the principle of central contacts and not everybody is convinced that they are the best way of keeping the work-force happy, it is the timing that seems unfortunate.

Link to entire column Swinging Drives here