According to a cricket board official, the players would be awarded new contracts before their departure for the Sahara Cup.
The previous contracts were signed before the team was embarking on African safari. However, PCB chairman Khalid Mahmood terminated the contracts after senior players protested on the retainer allowance.
According to a clause in the contract, the players were used to get total playing fee in a season after deduction of the retainer allowance. The players urged that retainer was a sort of monthly salary and cannot be mixed up with their playing fee and other allowances.
The players also requested the cricket board chairman to enhance their retainer allowance as it was a very small amount. The player in the lowest slab was getting only Rs 8,000 and the player in the highest slab was receiving Rs 30,000.
According to a senior team member, the chairman has been requested to at least double the retainer allowance, besides it should not be mixed up with their participation fee.
The cricket board has acceded to players' demands but have refused to pay them the retainer allowance for the period according to the previous contract which existed for only six months.
``When there is no previous contract, there is no question about its legality. And when there is no legality, how can the board pay the players the six months retainer allowance,'' a PCB official said.
However, a player said: ``The contract existed for six months and the cricket board should pay for that period.''
The executive council, which met on Sunday, was to discuss and prepare the players contracts but failed to reach a consensus as most of the time was consumed by deliberations on the appointment of captain.
The cricket board has also to decide on how many players they want to hire for the 1998-99 season. According to a proposal, top 20 players will be offered one contract while the next 10 players will be awarded a less attractive package.
The slab system will, however, remain unaffected in the whole episode.
According to the PCB slab system, the player who has played 81 Tests or more, will find himself in the highest slab and will get Rs 37,000 besides 70% of the Test fee as tour fee (Rs 25,900). Similarly, in the one-day internationals the player who has played 141 one-day international or more, get Rs 19,000 besides 75% of the one-day fee as tour fee (Rs 14,250). In addition to this, the members of the touring party will get a daily allowance of US$50.
But this arrangement is only when the team is on a tour. At home, the players will get Test fee according to slab system and Rs 2,000 or US$ 50 as daily allowance.
This means that for three Tests and three one-day internationals away series, any player in the highest slab will earn Rs 288,450. However, if the same number of matches are played at home, he will be paid Rs 168,000 (both amounts do not include the daily allowance).