KARACHI: Nineteen Pakistan women cricketers have been awarded 12-month central contracts for the first time as an acknowledgment that their game is now becoming professional. Last year the national women's team won the Asian Games Twenty20 title and last month they finished first in a four-nation tournament in Sri Lanka which included the host, Ireland and the Netherlands. “It now requires full time commitment and professionalism and there is a need to compensate the players,” Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Nadeem Sarwar said Tuesday. Pakistan captain Sana Mir said the introduction of contracts would encourage more women to take up cricket. The leading women will get a retainer of 50,000 rupees, about $600, compared to 250,000 rupees ($2,950) for the top men players. Committee to decide on Haider The Pakistan Cricket Board has received a written submission from Zulqarnain Haider in reply to questions about why he fled from the team last November during a series against South Africa. A source close to the matter said Haider had told the PCB that he did not inform the team management in Dubai about his plans to flee because he did not have any trust or confidence in them. The PCB said Tuesday it formed a three-man committee to look into Haider's reply. Sultan Rana, the PCB director domestic cricket, was named chairman of the committee which will start its probe when Pakistan returns from Ireland, where it will play two ODIs on May 28 and May 30. Kaneria fails to get clearance Pakistan's cricket board Tuesday rejected a document submitted by leg-spinner Danish Kaneria in a bid to clear suspicions of spot-fixing and enable him to play for his country, an official said. The 30-year-old became embroiled in an alleged spot-fixing scandal when police in Essex in Britain arrested him and teammate Mervyn Westfield last year over a Pro-40 match in Durham in 2009. They were suspected of bowling deliberate no-balls and Westfield was charged ovr the case, but Kaneria was released without charge. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) did not give Kaneria clearance to play in a tour of the West Indies, saying he still had to secure a “clearance certificate” from Essex, for whom he was playing at the time of the scandal. Butt opts not to appear in court Pakistan's banned captain Salman Butt will not appear at Southwark Crown Court Friday to face charges of taking bribes brought against him by Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), a source close to the batsman said. Butt, along with pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and sports agent Mazhar Majeed from Croydon, England, were charged in February with conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments and with conspiracy to cheat.
