On last Saturday (September 8), Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has confirmed that the 32-year-old all-rounder Sikandar Raza hasn’t been offered a new contract.
ZC has claimed that Raza played club cricket in England without achieving the no objection certificate. In next, ZC rejected his request to get the no objection certificate and later, Raza terminated his central contract to feature in Canada’s Global T20 tournament.
ZC released a statement which claimed, “When considering whom to offer a contract, the Contracts Committee does not only look at an individual player’s statistics, fitness and performances, but also one’s attitude, discipline and commitment not only to ZC but more importantly to Zimbabwe.
“Unfortunately, Raza did not tick all the boxes and so the Contracts Committee decided he was not deserving of a contract this time round. The available contracts were awarded to other players who have consistently shown their professionalism and desire to represent their country.”
However, ZC has also confirmed that Raza is still available to play for the national team just like the other players who have no central contracts.
It stated, “Players without central contracts – and Raza is now one of them – are always considered for national duty at the discretion of the National Selection Panel that also looks at several factors before picking a player.”
Earlier on last Friday, Raza twitted the news of losing his central contract which ZC took objection for revealing the contract matter which is confidential.
After landing back in Zimbabwe my agent informed me of this
For all those who have been asking!@Stemsports1 @uzayrraja123 pic.twitter.com/COtO3FdlAg
— Sikandar Raza (@SRazaB24) September 7, 2018
Previously, ZC has defaulted to pay players’ salaries on time. The national board failed to pay around four months-worth of wages, including their Sri Lanka tour wages in July-August last year.
Raza was one of the five players (Brendan Taylor, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams were the other players) who didn’t participate in the recent home T20I tri-series along with Pakistan and Australia and then five-match home ODI series against Pakistan in this July. They denied featuring in those home international cricket matches due to non-payment salary issues.
