Shoaib awarded central contract

6 January 2009

Shoaib Akhtar was recalled by Pakistan for October's Twenty20 Canada series

Shoaib Akhtar was the most notable inclusion among the 26 players today awarded central contracts by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

The 33-year-old fast bowler was at odds with the previous PCB regime, having criticised them after he was handed a five-year ban last spring during a break-down in relations.

Shoaib played only a handful of matches for his country in 2008 because of his ban and injury, and did not receive a central contract.

Subsequently, however, he had his ban reduced on appeal to only 18 months, and then commuted by a High Court ruling to a suspended punishment.

A decision still pends over a $100,000 fine, which was also imposed.

The PCB’s new-look selection panel, headed by former Test leg-spinners Abdul Qadir and Intikhab Alam, have made it clear Shoaib is central to their plans by giving him a prized Category A contract - along with eight more of their lynchpin players.

The full list of PCB player contracts:

Category A - Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan, Danish Kaneria, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik (captain), Misbah-ul-Haq, Salman Butt, Umar Gul.
Category B - Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohail Tanvir.
Category C - Iftikhar Anjum, Abdur Rehman, Yasir Arafat, Fawad Alam, Khurram Manzoor, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Samiullah Khan, Sarfraz Ahmad, Nasir Jamshed, Umar Amin, Azhar Ali.