Pakistan board announces hefty cash bonuses

The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced cash bonuses for the players who signed central contracts. This was a gesture to reward those who turned down lucrative offers from the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, said that players from players in the category A would now receive US$100,000 each, category B US$50,000 and US$25,000 for each player in category C.

"We have taken this measure to admire their gesture of signing the contracts with the PCB and to prefer playing for Pakistan,"

said Ashraf.

"We all salute our cricketers who have a passion to play for their country, rather than exploring avenues for making money by taking part in such cricket events which have no status in international cricket activities."

Three players - Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Farhat and Abdul Razzaq - have signed up with the ICL after the PCB offered contracts to them. Razzaq subsequently quit international cricket while the board is making efforts to convince Yousuf to reverse his decision . Ashraf said the board managed to trace Yousuf and that he had agreed to discuss the issue in detail on September 22.

However, Ashraf insisted that the bonus was not aimed at preventing players from joining the ICL. The board had refused to recognise the league and maintained its stance that any player associating himself with it will be banned from playing for Pakistan.

"These cash awards are not a temptation for the players to prevent them from joining ICL as the PCB does not recognise such a series"

, he said.

The board also announced cash awards of Rs 150,000 for each player of the Under-19 team which won the one-day series and drew the test series in England.