Legendary bowler Muttiah Muralitharan in a recent TV talk show censured the contracted senior players for dragging on the ongoing contract dispute between Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and players[/caption]
Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) current imbroglio over not finalising player contracts is likely to be over before the scheduled South Africa white-ball series next month.
“It is highly possible that the players will sign their annual contracts this month. There might be some changes and alterations in the present contracts,” a senior SLC official said last week.
Senior Sri Lanka players in particular were reluctant to sign those contracts citing lack of transparency, among other things, in player categorisation and new criteria included in the new contracts. As a result, the dispute had been unresolved for many months now, as the players had to sign only tour-by-tour contracts --not annual contracts-- for the past couple of series.
The Technical Advisory Committee is reported to be the main body, not directly the SLC, that drafted the player contracts this time where special attention has allegedly been paid for a youth-oriented framework, player fitness, and team commitment.
Once Muttiah Muralitharan told media that the annual contracts this year may not be given and there was going to be only tour-by-tour contracts for the entire remainder of the year. He vehemently criticised senior players, mainly Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews, for making use of the younger players, who have been nominated for annual contracts, to only achieving their own motives.
Along with Muralitharan, Aravinda de Silva, as chair, Kumar Sangakkara, and Roshan Mahanama are the other members of the Technical Advisory Committee that presently holds considerable power in the decision-making process regarding national cricket.
“Most of the Technical Committee members are now okay with going ahead with the contracts, baring only one member. With most of the youngsters have performed extremely well in the recent India series, I don’t see any reason why those players refraining further from signing the contracts before the start of the South Africa limited-over series,” the above source further added.