The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will scrap the traditional contract categories and replace them with a new system that attempts to draw a clearer distinction between specialists in each of the three formats, chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced. The system will rely heavily on analytics and data, with Naqvi saying "85%" of decisions on contracts would end up being taken away from humans.
"The contracts players used to get always resulted in debates about why players were placed in a particular category," Naqvi said at a press conference, flanked by Pakistan coaches Aaqib Javed and Mike Hesson. "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."
According to the new structure, players will no longer be placed in four categories from A to D, as has been the case in the past. They will, instead, be classified by which format they are deemed to specialise in, with the categories being replaced by what the PCB document calls "format tracks".
Test specialists will be placed in track A, with Test and ODI players awarded track AB. White-ball players will be given track BC contracts, with T20 specialists given track D contracts. D contracts will give players more freedom to play franchise T20 leagues around the world, while the heaviest restrictions will be placed on Test specialists, with the document promising them the greatest level of financial support to reflect the value the board places on Test cricket, and to make a Test-specialist career financially lucrative.
"The criteria has been set to place players in any category," Naqvi 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."
That statement, however, appears to exist in slight tension with the decision that it will not be made public which track has been designated to a player, or how many players are in any particular track. That means, for example, that though the PCB will have internal guidelines for making decisions about allowing players to play in an overseas league or select them in a particular format, the public will not know whether the PCB regards players as Test or white-ball specialists.
Naqvi, Aaqib and Hesson were all keen to emphasise the role data analytics was playing in player selections now, with the board revealing the new system had been in place at the domestic level over the past year. "Every single Test nation is struggling to come up with a method or document for Test cricket and the challenges around that," Hesson, Pakistan's white-ball coach, said. "How do you value it from a financial point of view where you allow players to focus on Test cricket? The PCB have come up with a framework that caters for everything. It's an impressive document that gives true proof that they care about Test cricket. It also caters to the T20 player who could benefit from going around the world, learning their craft playing different tournaments and also be remunerated."
One of the through-threads of the new system is an emphasis on playing more domestic cricket, especially with the document saying an "active participation in domestic cricket will be mandatory" for central contract eligibility. It was not specified what constitutes active participation, but it was stated that each player's performances would be assessed in detail, as well as players' commitment to their chosen pathway, and their performance within it.
While either the document or the statements from the coaches and the chairman were light on specific details on what made this new approach different from standard data analytics, Aaqib said it would represent a departure from how selection decisions had been made in the past. "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 chairman met us and asked why people criticise us over contracts and selection. Even last year, when we were handing out contracts, players were also upset because they complained about why they didn't get a higher category. We also accepted that we wanted to improve this because we were also unsatisfied with the process. At times, human errors mean some players were hard done by."
It was announced that this system will come into effect at the end of this cycle of central contracts, which concludes at the end of the month.