Shoaib Akhtar's central contract. ISSUE

The Pakistan Cricket Board have decided not to renew Shoaib Akhtar's central contract.

Shoaib, 32, has paid the price for fitness and discipline problems during the last 12 months.

Fellow fast bowler Mohammad Sami and opening batsman Imran Nazir have also lost their central contracts.

PCB chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf offered the axed trio hope by saying the national team will not exclusively be drawn from the list of contracted players.

"The players not given central contracts have been given special retainers and if they show commitment and form they can come back into the team after a year," he said.

"We want it to be an elite contract. So that players fight and compete to get the contracts.

"It should also serve as an incentive for younger players.

"Not being in the central contracts list does not mean you cannot be selected for the national team. Selectors can consider any player."

There are three categories of central contracts, introduced by the PCB in 2005, with a total of 15 players handed deals.

The main beneficiary of the shake-up is batsman Misbah-ul-Haq, who has been promoted to the A category and appointed vice-captain until the end of 2008.

Pakistan central contracts:

Category A: Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Yousuf
Category B: Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Umar Gul
Category C: Abdul Rehman, Yasir Arafat, Rao Iftikhar, Danish Kaneria, Fawad Alam

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A31548594

comment on the article

So a day after Gilly got the world record for most dismissals he has indeed decided to retire which is sad as he is a legend of the game.He has taken the decision and one has to respect it. In recent times his batting had become a touch inconsistent though one has to admit that he still was coming up with few crucial knocks, his keeping in recent times wasn't upto his usual high standards.

Yes there is no doubting his greatness as a player as he has played some incredible innings like at Wanderers against Saffers in 01/02 when he hit some stunning shots and I remember him hitting one six which just missed an advertising billboard and if he had hit it he would have got gold worth about 1 million I believe!!! oh man he just annihilated the Saffers that day,the innings at Hobart against Pakistan in 99/00 when he played a masterful knock, the innings that he played against us at Perth in 06/07 when he hammered Hoggy and others all over the park,that incredible knock in 07 WC, his match winning knock at Bombay in 01 against India etc.Even his keeping improved when one compares to the time he first played internationals in 97. As a player he played the game hard but fair.

So who are the potential replacements with Gilly retiring?Haddin,Paine,Ronchi,Hartley or is there anyone else? Anyhow I will always remember Gilly as a great player who set new standards as a batsman/ keeper.