2022-23 domestic contract categories released

Announcement

The Pakistan Cricket Board revealed the specifics of the domestic contracts for 2022–23 yesterday. The contract proposal was first accepted by the Board of Governors (BoG) at its 70th meeting on Saturday. The agreement’s term is September 2022 to August 2023. The players’ names will be made public in the coming days

The cricket board has once again increased the domestic retainers after Mr. Ramiz Raja declared an increase of PKR 100,000 in retainers across all five categories.

The biggest difference, though, is in the match payments. Which increased to attract top cricketers and motivate them to uphold their standards. So that they can stay in the domestic contract categories.

In-depth contract details

The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match fee has gone up from PKR60,000 to PKR100,000, while the Pakistan Cup and National T20 match fees have gone up from PKR40,000 to PKR60,000, respectively. Non-players in the red and white-ball games would now get PKR40,000 (an increase of PKR16,000) and PKR20,000, respectively (up by PKR4,000).

Match fees for the white-ball Cricket Associations and CA T20 have increased from PKR15,000 to PKR25,000, while match fees for the non-first-class four-day Cricket Associations Championship have increased from PKR25,000 to PKR40,000. Non-playing members of the red and white-ball matches will each get PKR15,000 and PKR10,000.

Category A+ and Category D have recently increased retainers and match fees. Now, players have the opportunity to earn between PKR4.3million and PKR6.1million. To earn these salaries, the players must, however, need to maintain the required levels of fitness. So that they may participate in all league games of the National T20, Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, and Pakistan Cup.

Nadeem Khan’s comments

Nadeem Khan, the PCB’s director of high performance, said the domestic game is Pakistan’s main source of revenue, therefore we must keep investing in it to make it a more powerful and appealing brand. He appreciates the BoG’s support and approval of the management’s recommendations in this regard. I do not doubt that these additional financial incentives will advance local cricket in the United States and help the PCB close the remaining gap with international cricket.

He further added saying the main reason behind the increase in salaries, stating “The retainers and match fees have been increased to motivate and inspire cricketers to work harder round the year to maintain the required and expected levels of fitness and form, which forms the basis of retaining places in the contract list. Besides, the new incentives will also encourage them to give preference to our tournament over foreign leagues. Needless to remind everyone, PCB domestic events are a pathway to selection in the national side.”

For the 2022–23 season, which will include 187 matches spread across several formats over five months. The PCB introduced many adjustments to the domestic system earlier this year. Instead of lasting until March as in previous seasons, this one will terminate in the first week of January.