KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board in the next 48 hours will unveil a new contract payment system for its players, which will include monthly retainers for a shortlist of players but could also leave the senior players unhappy.

Besides the announcement of the touring squad for next month's triangular One-day series in Sri Lanka, the new contracts for the players is foremost on the minds of the Board and players these days.

Information gathered by 'The News' confirms that while the Chairman has held several round of discussions with his key officials on this issue, as yet no effort has been made to involve any representative of the players in these discussions.

"Which is surprising since the players have their own viewpoint on the proposed contracts and also some grievances over recent decisions of the accounts department on their payments," a source said. While Chairman Lt. General Tauqir Zia has already confirmed that the PCB is planning to give retainers-for the first time-to a pool of 30 to 35 players on a monthly basis in the new contracts, there is a strong possibility that the Board will unveil a new contract with reduced benefits for the senior players.

At present under a slab payment system based on seniority of the players, Pakistan's senior players get lucrative contracts on a per tour basis.

"The idea is to pick the best available talent in the country including those already playing for Pakistan and those who are borderline cases and give them retainers," Tauqir said here the other day.

"This is to ensure they have a peace of mind and are financially comfortable and at the same time they remain in the employment of the Board who will give them permission for foreign assignments," he explained.

The present slab-payment system is as under: Test matches: 01-40 Tests. Rs 28,000 basic fee. 55% per cent additional fee of basic match fees for foreign tours. 41-90 Tests. Rs 35,000. 60% additional fee of basic match fees for foreign tours. 91 Tests onwards Rs 40,000.

70% additional fee of basic match fees for foreign tours. One Day International matches: 01-25 matches. Rs 15,000 plus 50% additional fee of basic match fees for foreign tours. 26-60 matches. Rs 20,000 plus 55%. 61-100 matches. Rs 30,000 plus 70%. 101-150 matches. Rs 35,000 plus 75%. 151-200 matches. Rs 40,000 plus 80% 201-matches onwards. Rs 50,000 plus 85%.

The other payment clauses in the current players contracts are: (i) A player shall get fee as per the slab in which he qualifies. (ii) 50% match fee will be paid to the non playing member of the Players squad. (iii) The Tour Fee %age is applicable on visits abroad.

This represents a categorized %age figure of Match fee to be paid to players who are on a tour abroad. This fee is paid in addition to his fee mentioned in (i) above. (iv) Every match played represents a %age point.

Every player gets additional fee accordingly.

This fee is in addition to (i) & (iv) above. To put it simply if a player has played over 200 ODIs, on foreign tours his basic match fee will be Rs 50,000.

Add to this 85% of the basic match fee i.e Rs 42,500. In addition going by clause (iv), a player who has played over 200 matches will also get 200% or more (based on exact number of matches he has played) of his basic match which would come to around Rs 100,000.

This means in totality a player who is in the slab system of over 200 ODI matches earns approximately 192,000 per ODI on tours abroad. Inzamam-ul-Haq belongs to this slab. The same principle and formula applies for Tests and ODIs in all the other slabs with the percentage changing according to number of matches played.

Unfortunately under this slab system, the new and junior players tend to lose out since if a player is in the 1-20 Tests and 1-25 ODIs slab, he earns just about Rs 30,000 to 35,000 per match.

This is in addition to an average annual payment of approximately Rs 1.5 million ($20 to $25,000 US) made to each player for wearing the team sponsors logo in matches.

"We want to reward the players financially and see them off well. But we also have to look at ground realities. Pakistan cricket has suffered a lot financially in the last two years because of cancelled and relocated tours," Tauqir says.

"We will be finalizing the new contracts in next few days. Hopefully it will remain beneficial to the players and satisfy them." But sources in the PCB say in the new contract, the Board wants to finish the slab system of payment and introduce a uniform match fees (reduced) for all players regardless of their seniority but with added incentives and bonuses for good performances.

"The other option is the PCB will retains the slab system of payment but will reduce the basic match fees," a source said. Interestingly some of the players also favour a uniform fee for all players but want the amount to be paid in US dollars and to be increased to a level where every player is satisfied with his earnings.

One good thing is that the Board has dropped a proposal to reduce the daily allowances of the players on foreign tours from $100 to $50 US. From last year the PCB had also enforced a performance based clause in the players contract under which 20% of their basic match fees was deducted if they lost a Test or ODI and 20% of the basic match fees given as additional bonus for every match won.

After the World Cup Pakistan team members were docked 50% of their total earnings for failing to qualify for the Super Sixes. The Board accountants apparently have enforced this performance-based clause erroneously that is atleast what the players feel, the source confided.

Information has it that when the team returned from Zimbabwe and South Africa last year the players were surprised to learn the way the performance based clause had been implemented by the accounts department," he stated.

"What happened was that for the five ODIs won by Pakistan in Zimbabwe the players were to get 20% additional fee of their basic match fees for every match won. For example a player whose total match fees came up to Rs 600,000 for the five matches was pleasantly to get a cheque of Rs 1.2 million."

"This was because the accounts had calculated 20% for each match to a total of 100% and then given him a 100% bonus payment on his total earnings i.e Rs 600,000." According to information the players were however unhappy to learn that the same method had been applied when deducting payments of 20% for every match lost.

"This meant that a player whose total earnings for the five match series in South Africa was say Rs 600,000 found that the accounts had deducted 80% of his total earnings i.e whereas it should have been 20% for every match lost." Pakistan lost the ODI series 4-1.

There have been occasions in the past in Pakistan cricket where players have clashed with the establishment over payment issues. Interestingly Before leaving last month for the Sharjah tour, some senior players didn't sign the one-off contract which had a uniform rate of match fees for every player.

"The seniors were unhappy with the contract clauses on match fees," the source confided. In 1976-77 a group of senior player led by captain Mushtaq Muhammad had walked out of the team over payments dispute with Board President late Abdul Hafeez Kardar which was later resolved amicably.