KARACHI ( 2009-01-06 19:13:40 ) :Pakistan Cricket Board awarded new central contracts to 26 players on Tuesday.

Saleem Altaf, chief operating officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board, told a news conference in Lahore that all the players had been recommended for the annual contracts by the national selection committee.

"They have been picked on the basis of seniority and performances in the last 12 months," said Altaf while also confirming Shoaib Malik had been retained as captain.

"But if the selectors believe some other player is performing and deserves to be on the contracted list he can also be included."

The board named uncapped batsmen Umar Amin and Azhar Ali on the list of contracted players as a reward for good performances in domestic cricket.

In the past, central contracts were only awarded to players who had been capped by Pakistan.

Altaf also said test match fees had risen to 350,000 rupees ($4,400). That money is paid in addition to the players' monthly salaries.

List of centrally contracted players:



CATEGORY A (250,000 rupees per month) - Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Danish Kaneria, Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi.

CATEGORY B (175,000 rupees) - Yasir Hameed, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohail Tanvir, Faisal Iqbal

CATEGORY C (100,000) - Yasir Arafat, Abdul Rehman, Fawad Alam, Rao Iftikhar, Sohail Khan, Nasir Jamshed, Sarfraz Ahmed, Khurrum Manzoor, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Umar Amin, Samiullah Niazi, Azhar Ali.



Copyright Reuters, 2009