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‘Tour-only contract’ before India series too

06 Jul 2021

     

By Revatha S. Silva

[caption id="attachment_147627" align="alignleft" width="324"] Sri Lanka to play India too without their annual contracts. Photo internet[/caption]

The protracted dispute and tug-o-war between the proposed 24 contracted players and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), over the national players’ annual contracts, are unlikely to be sorted out even before the India limited-over series, The Morning Sports learnt yesterday (6).

“The players are to sign a tour-only contract for the India series. The annual contracts are still under discussion,” a senior SLC ex-co official told The Morning Sports on the condition of anonymity.

Aravinda-led Advisory Committee

The proposed 24 players for annual contracts have declined to sign them citing lack of transparency in player categorisation, among other things, in the newly designed contract scheme for the ensuing year.

The Technical Advisory Committee, headed by Aravinda de Silva, has been alleged to have drafted the new contracts which have included an unprecedented scheme so as to encourage player fitness while also meriting their good performances.

The Sri Lanka versus India white-ball series is scheduled to be held between 13 to 25 July. It will consist of three ODIs followed by three T20Is with all six matches are to be held at the R. Premadasa International Stadium, Colombo behind closed doors.

Highest-paid players

Senior Sri Lanka players such as Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne had been negotiating with the board officials over the past month or so, through their lawyers, hoping to come to a settlement over the annual contract issue but failed. They had requested clearer explanation on the newly-introduced mechanisms in the contracts and on the criteria that have been used for player categorisation.

It is believed that such seniors are likely to suffer a minimum of 35% deduction of their annual wages from last time, according to the new contracts. The 24 players have been divided into four categories, according to the proposed contracts, where their monthly payments range from Rs. 1,641,000 ($ 100,000) to Rs. 410,000 ($ 25,000).

Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Mathews, Kusal Perera, Karunaratne, and Kusal Mendis are the players whoa are slotted into the highest-paid Category ‘A’.

No time for further negotiations

In such a situation, the Indian series will perhaps be the third in a row where players are to take part by signing only a tour-specific contract as their annual contract dispute remains unresolved further. Previously they toured both Bangladesh and England too on similar arrangement, failing to reach a settlement with the board.

Days before the England tour, the dispute led to a tense situation when SLC officials reportedly indicated the players that they would send a second-string side to England, had they not agreed to come to a settlement. That again led the two parties to postpone the central-contract issue until the end of England series as well.

This time, there will hardly be any sufficient time for the two parties to sit down and talk on the contract issue since the England-bound players, who will be picked for the Indo series, will need to enter the bio-security bubble as soon as they arrive here in Sri Lanka, reportedly today.

Fears of Sri Lanka second-string side

There were fears over the weekend that the board might name a second-string side to play India as the England-bound players looked as if they were going to boycott the Indo series by way of not signing the contracts. Ironically, it was only days after Sri Lanka World Cup-winning Captain Arjuna Ranatunga had told media that Sri Lanka has been made to undergo an insult as a country by the local cricket administration and the Sports Minister by accepting to play an Indian second-string side as their main team is involving in a Test series concurrently in England.

“India Tour of Sri Lanka: Big development as Sri Lankan selector declare, ‘we may pick second string Sri Lankan side for India’, reported India’s The Inside Sports yesterday.

It was also reported during the weekend that a set of 13 Sri Lanka players, who are not among those who are proposed for annual contracts, had already begun quarantine in Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo.

They were believed to be ‘the back-up squad’ for India if the main national squad does not agree to play. And some of the players now under quarantine in Colombo are also expected to join various franchises of the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) once it begins on 30 July.

Bhanuka enters Colombo ‘bio-bubble’

Meanwhile yesterday, Sri Lanka white-ball top-order bat Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who was involved in a recent spat with local cricket authorities over an issue where he had criticised SLC and Sri Lanka Head Coach Mickey Arthur on social media, was included in the 13-player Colombo “bio-bubble” after handing the seven-match T20I player a one-year ban from all cricket, suspended for two years, with a fine.
Rajapaksa has agreed to enter an annual contract with SLC and is likely to be included in the Sri Lanka squad for the India series. He last played for Sri Lanka in January last year in a T20I in India.
The players are in a dilemma in this contract dispute, though, for their poor performance on the field and their appalling disciplinary conduct off it, in the recent years.


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