Pakistan news[RIGHT]July 12, 2017[/RIGHT]
Umar Akmal not given central contract
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Archive - The ups and downs of Umar AkmalUmar Akmal’s international career appears to be at a crossroads as the PCB omitted him from the list of 35 centrally contracted players for the year starting July 1, 2017. His fitness has been a major concern for much of his career, and he was the most notable omission from the list. He was named in the original ICC Champions trophy squad but was axed after failing two fitness tests in England before the start of the tournament in England. He had previously been dropped from the West Indies tour in April for similar reasons. He was excluded from that squad after he was the only player, among 31, to fail the fitness test during the camp held at the NCA in March.
He was named in the national high performance camp organised by the National Cricket Academy but he pulled out, citing a knee injury. He informed the relevant officials at the NCA - including head coach Mushtaq Ahmed - and excused himself from the national camp for five weeks, during which he has decided to undergo a rehabilitation period in England with his private trainer.
The selectors have handed out 15 new central contracts, with 10 players including now retired Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan dropped from the previous list of 30 players. Junaid Khan, who had been axed last year has been offered a Category C contract while fellow left-arm fast bowlers Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali have been demoted from Catgeory B to C. Babar Azam and Imad Wasim were promoted from Category C to B while openers Sami Aslam and Shan Masood were retained in Category C along with Mohammad Nawaz - who has already served his two-month ban. The monetary value of the monthly retainer has also been increased by 10% for all categories.
“The central contracts were awarded after keeping in mind the performances, fitness, and discipline of the players,” the PCB said in a statement. “A number of young players have been awarded central contracts this year keeping in mind that the national teams in all formats will be going through a transitional period after a number of retirements from last year’s central contract list.”
The selectors have also picked an additional wicket-keeper, Mohammad Hassan, in the list along with Sarfraz Ahmed - captain in all three formats - and Mohammad Rizwan, who was demoted from Category C to D. Usman Salahuddin was given a contract in 2012 before fading away. He has once more returned to national contention with a Category D contract as a plausible contender for a middle order berth following the retirements of Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan. Umar Amin, who has also been absent from the central contracts list for the past few years, returns in Category D. Bilal Asif, who was included in Category D, is the only off-spinner among the 35 players to be offered central contracts.
The PCB has named chief selector Inzamam ul Haq’s nephew Imam ul Haq in the emerging players category. He recently had a productive stint with Pakistan Under-23, scoring two back-to-back hundreds in Bangladesh. Asif Zakir, a batsman from Karachi, has also be rewarded for successive prolific domestic seasons after he scored 791 runs in 10 first-class matches in 2015-16 at an average of 56.50 and scored 853 first runs at 85.30 in 2016-17 season, and was given a Category D contract.
**Category A: Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Amir
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****Category B: Babar Azam, Imad Wasim, Asad Shafiq, Hasan Ali
******Category C: Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Haris Sohail, Sami Aslam, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Junaid Khan, Ahmed Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Shahdab Khan
********Category D: Mohammad Nawaz, Asif Zakir, Usman Salahuddin, Amir Yamin, Usman Shinwari, Faheem Ashraf, Ruman Raees, Imam ul Haq, Bilal Asif, Mir Hamza, Umer Amin, Mohammad Hasan, Mohammad Asghar, Mohammad Rizwan
Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent
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