Melbourne, Feb 24 - Cricket Australia (CA) is planning to cut down the number of central contracts handed out to players as a part of its new Memorandum of Understanding with the players' association.

Cricket Australia (CA) chief James Sutherland said Friday that the new contract system will he performance-based and players will be awarded through an incentive scheme.

Sutherland, however, said he is unsure how the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) will react to the proposal.

"We want Australia's cricketers to be the best-paid in the world and I'm pretty sure they are," Sutherland was quoted as saying in the Australian media.

Sutherland said new proposal would add flexibility to the contract system.

"One of the ways this could be addressed is by having a reduced number of contracts. You have a smaller group that they (selectors) have greater confidence in. The right people will get the right pay. No one likes change, but we're really confident we've got a proposition that's in the interests of the Australian players and the players who do the work and win the games. Players get paid the same amount if we win four-nil against India or we lose four-nil," he said.

ACA chief Paul Marsh argued that the current system that is already in placed is also incentive-based.

"No one's going to be worse off by this because the players' performances will justify it. We have 25 contracted players. There's probably four or five players who probably don't play enough games within the year to get an upgrade. So those funds (base payments on contracts) could have gone to other players," he said.(IANS)