Pakistan awards central contracts to 17 women cricketers

LAHORE - The Pakistan Cricket Board on Monday announced the list of 17 women cricketers who have been awarded incentives and performance-based contracts.

These contracts have commenced on January 1, 2019, and will expire on June 30, 2019.

The contracts for the first half of 2019 have been awarded following the settlement of all outstanding payments from the July-December 2018 contract period.

Fareeha Mehmood, Ghulam Fatima, Maham Tariq and Rameen Shamin have lost their contracts, while Omaima Sohail is the only new face in the 17-player list. Sidra Amin and Aliya Riaz have been promoted from Categories D and E to Categories C and D, respectively, while Muneeba Ali Siddique has slipped from Category C to D.

Fresh contracts have been awarded following an appraisal process, in which the player performances in the six-month contract period were taken into consideration by the four-person committee, comprising Haroon Rashid (Director - Cricket Operations), Jalaluddin (Chair of the Selection Committee), Mark Coles (Head coach - Pakistan women's cricket team) and Asmavia Iqbal (Member - Pakistan women's selection committee).

In the second half of 2018, the Pakistan women cricketers featured in the ICC Women's Championship, ICC Women's World T20 2018 in the West Indies and visited Bangladesh for ODI and T20I series.

"I want to congratulate all the women cricketers who have been awarded the central contracts and wish them well," said Director Domestic Cricket Operations Haroon Rashid here. "I know the four players who have not been awarded contracts will be disappointed, but the new contracts are related to performances. I am confident that these players will continue to work harder to reclaim their places in the contact list."

"The new contracts are more competitive and further incentivise the top performing players. This is part of the PCB's strategy to encourage and promote women's cricket. The PCB will continue to invest in women's cricket as we aspire to be one of the top and consistent performing sides," he added.

Pakistan women's captain Bismah Maroof thanked the PCB when she said: "It is always a matter of pride to be handed a central contract. I am sure our players are happy and looking forward to doing their best in the coming months. Our aim being to build a fine team and bench-strength, these contracts certainly contribute to that purpose."

In the ICC women's ODI player rankings, Javeria Khan is the highest-ranked Pakistan batter ranked 24th, followed by Nahida Khan (25th), Bismah Maroof (28th), Sana Mir (34th) and Nida Dar (69th).

Sana Mir is the world's highest-ranked bowler, while Nashra Sandhu is the next highest-ranked bowler in 37th position. Nida Dar is 45th, Bismah Maroof 59th, Anam Amin 69th and Aiman Anwer 80th.

In the ICC women's T20I player rankings, Javeria Khan is the highest-ranked Pakistan batter at 14th position. She is followed by Bismah Maroof (18th), Sana Mir (43rd), Nahida Khan (47th) and Nain Abidi (64th), while ninth-ranked Nida Dar is the highest-ranked Pakistan bowler, followed by Nashra Sandhu (10th), Anam Amin (19th), Sana Mir (25th) and Aiman Anwer (65th). Nida Dar is Pakistan's highest-ranked T20I all-rounder in 16th position.

The Pakistan women's side is ranked seventh in both the ODI and T20I ICC team rankings. Pakistan women cricketers' international commitments in the first half of 2019 include home series against the Windies and away series against South Africa in the ICC Women's Championship, while Bangladesh is also scheduled to pay a return visit in March.

In addition to this, the PCB women's wing has planned a number of training camps and local events, details of which will be announced closer to the time.

List of contracted players:

Category A - Bismah Maroof, Javeria Wadood, Nahida Khan and Sana Mir
Category B - Nashra Sundhu, Nida Rashid and Sidra Nawaz
Category C - Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Diana Baig, Omaima Sohail and Sidra Amin
Category D - Aimen Anwar, Ayesha Zafar, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui and Natalia Pervaiz.