The Pakistan Cricket Board is shelving its long-standing A-to-D central contract ladder and replacing it with a model built around format specialisation. Announcing the change in Lahore, chairman Mohsin Naqvi said the new scheme leans on data analytics, with “85%” of each decision driven by measurable performance rather than personal judgement.
Key points first.
• Four traditional categories go; in come four “format tracks”.
• Track A is for Test specialists; AB for players trusted in Tests and ODIs.
• BC covers white-ball all-rounders, while D is reserved for T20 specialists.
• Payments will rise the further a player leans towards Test cricket, counter-balancing the earning power of global leagues.
• The PCB will not publish the track assigned to any individual.
Speaking beside head coaches Aaqib Javed and Mike Hesson, Naqvi stressed the board’s wish to eliminate argument. “The contracts players used to get always resulted in debates about why players were placed in a particular category,” he said. “Even players were uncomfortable when they got a category they were not happy with. We’ve readied a document we’re sharing with you, in which 85% of the contract decision has been taken away from humans and towards data.”
While the internal algorithm is meant to add transparency, the decision not to disclose a player’s track raises an obvious contradiction. Followers will not know whether the PCB views, say, an aggressive top-order bat as a Test investment or a white-ball asset. Selection calls and NOC approvals for overseas leagues may therefore still feel opaque.
Naqvi remains confident. “The criteria has been set to place players in any category,” he said. “I’m confident that the process will be transparent and not in the hands of individuals. No one will be able to object to what category they have been placed in.”
The use of advanced metrics is already filtering through Pakistan’s domestic structure. Aaqib offered a simple illustration: “If you go to Cricinfo, they’ve started using this metric called Impact Player, which you might have heard of. That means you evaluate not whether a player has scored a 50 or 100, but also whether scoring 20 at number 7 might have proved a more useful contribution to a win.” The former fast bowler has long argued that raw averages disguise match context; the new contracts aim to reward innings and spells that genuinely swing results.
Hesson, hired as white-ball coach after last year’s World Cup, sees the move as part of a wider global rethink. “Every single Test nation is struggling to come up with a method or document for Test cricket and the challenges around that,” he explained. “How do you value it from a financial point of view where you allow players to focus on Test cricket…”
The question is still unfinished – as was Hesson’s sentence – yet the implication is clear: the PCB wants to make staying in whites economically viable without blocking doors to the booming T20 circuit. Track D contracts should grant players greater freedom to pick up franchise deals, while Tracks A and AB come with stronger retainers and stricter NOC controls.
Players are expected to receive the first set of offers before the upcoming home series. Whether the new system calms the usual contract-season rumblings, or simply shifts them behind closed doors, will become apparent soon enough.
