* SL Test Captain, who led player revolt, expected to face axe

* Weak Captaincy, player factions cost SL T20I series in England

By Revatha S. Silva

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has thrown down the gauntlet. Now they are ready to fight against the national cricketers who have refrained from signing the cricket board contracts. The national cricketers are running the gauntlet. They are now feeling the heat for protesting to sign the contracts before the England cricket tour.

Only one possible reason for this player suffering now: Their continued appalling display in the middle.

SLC has allegedly struck off five “revolting” players from last week’s Sri Lanka ‘A’ and Emerging Teams’ residential training session for 26 players, which is being staged in Dambulla since Friday (25). The training session is scheduled to go on till 22 July.

Here are the five players who had been reportedly removed from the Sri Lanka ‘A’ training camp, with their proposed contract category and monthly salary:

1. Lasith Embuldeniya (Category B / Tier-2 = Rs. 985,000/=)

2. Kasun Rajitha (Category C / Tier-1 = Rs. 820,000/=)

3. Vishwa Fernando (Category C / Tier-3 = Rs. 656,000/=)

4. Lahiru Kumara (Category D / Tier-2 = Rs. 492,000/=)

5. Ashen Bandara (Category D / Tier-3 = Rs. 410,000/=)

The remaining 21 players who are reportedly attending the camp are:

Lahiru Udara, Nishan Madushka, Nipun Dananjaya, Saminda Fernando, Sammu Ashan, Sahan Aarachchige, Udith Madushan, Kalana Perera, Nimesh Vimukthi, Mahesh Theekshana, Sangeeth Cooray, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamil Mishara, Nuwanindu Fernando, Minod Bhanuka, Kamindu Mendis, Suminda Lakshan, Chamika Gunasekara, Dilshan Madushanka, Nuwan Thushara, and Ashian Daniel

[caption id="attachment_145799" align="alignright" width="215"] Kasun Rajitha[/caption]

We have reported earlier too that leading current national players are to get at least a 35% salary chop under the latest contract scheme designed mainly by the Aravinda de Silva-led Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), of which Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Roshan Mahanama too are members.

Meanwhile the protracted player-board contract dispute is expected to cause current Sri Lanka Test Captain Dimuth Karunaratne lose his position as well.

The reasons is said to be Karunaratne’s involvement in leading the so-called player revolt over the said contract dispute.

Lack of unity, selfish batting

Meanwhile factionalism, weak captaincy, and heavily personal approach towards their batting are considered to be the immediate reasons for the shocking display of the Sri Lanka team in the first two T20Is in England last week.

“There are at least three factions within the team and there is no unity at all. Kusal Perera is not one with a considerable captaincy experience. That was quite evident in the way he led the team and changed his bowlers in the middle when England were batting (in the first two matches),” revealed Sri Lanka team sources now in England, on the condition of anonymity.

“The main reason for the batsmen to not going for big shots is that what they want is to protect their wickets. They are playing a personal game. They are more worried about their place in the side and only want to have a reasonable personal score to save their place for the next match. They don’t take a risk to play hard and lose their wicket. Now nobody is certain about their place,” the above source further added.