Ashraful chopped from central contracts list

Mohammad Ashraful has not been awarded a contract by the Bangladesh Cricket Board for 2012. The BCB announced contracts for 15 players after the meeting of its board of directors on Sunday, with a salary hike of 10% from last year.

The contracts were divided into five categories, with A+ being the highest grade. Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Abdur Razzak and Mashrafe Mortaza retained their A+ grading from last year. Imrul Kayes, with a grade A contract, and Shafiul Islam, with a grade B contract, received upgrades.

Ashraful missed out after a woeful 2011, in which he was in and out of both the Test and one-day teams. He had averaged just 5.28 in seven one-dayers, and 28.25 in two Tests. He was not a part of the squad that impressed in the recently concluded Asia Cup.

Nasir Hossain, who has averaged 42 for Bangladesh in 14 ODIs with a hundred and three half-centuries, was included for the first time in the list with a grade C contract. Batsmen Nazimuddin and Shuvagata Hom, and left-arm spinner Elias Sunny who claimed a six-for on debut against West Indies in October, were awarded rookie grade contracts.

Shahadat Hossain, Junaid Siddique, Syed Rasel, Raqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam and Suhrawadi Shuvo missed out on contracts this year.