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Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya has stepped in to move Sri Lanka's
contract crisis towards a resolution, after his meeting with the locked
out players on Sunday night ended with the players indicating they would
sign SLC's original contract. Jayasuriya had personally set up the
meeting earlier in the day in an effort to break the deadlock, which he
has now successfully done.
"The players have decided to put their country first and sign the
original contract." Jayasuriya said after the meeting, which lasted over
two hours. "Once they sign, they will be considered for selection for
the Bangladesh series." The players are yet to put pen to paper, but are
expected to do so on Monday.
Jayasuriya said that while the players had agreed to bring the standoff
to a close, they expected to have further discussions with the board on
the key issue of contention - that of compensation for the use of their
images by the ICC and its sponsors, during ICC tournaments. Under their
2012 contracts, Sri Lanka players received 25% of the net fee paid by
the ICC to home boards during ICC tournaments, but in the 2013 contract
they have agreed to scrap these payments entirely.
"In the meantime when the ICC events come, the players will talk to the
SLC what they are going to do about the players' guarantee money," he
said.
SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga was unwilling to call the crisis
closed until contracts were signed, but was pleased with the outcome of
Sunday's meeting. "What I've heard from Sanath is that the players will
sign, but a full resolution hasn't been reached," he said.
If the original contracts are signed on Monday, Sri Lanka's cricketers
will not have gained anything from the standoff which lasted little over
24 hours, largely owing to SLC's powerful bargaining position. In the
weeks before the contracts were issued, SLC announced it will not recognise
player managers, and has since extended that policy to players'
associations, who were not allowed to represent the players' interests
during the contract negotiations.
In addition to doing away with player payments from ICC's guarantee fee,
the new contracts also allows the SLC not to pay a player's regular
salary for as long as he is with his IPL team. A convention that allowed
players' wives to travel business class on one tour a year was also
scrapped, and a clause that tied payment to performance as per the ICC
rankings, introduced.
The contracts had been issued late last week, with March 2 being the
deadline prescribed by the board. After the players refused to sign
before the deadline, SLC immediately engaged the strategy laid out by
its executive committee, which was to freeze the players out.
"They will definitely not be considered for selection," SLC president
Upali Dharmadasa had said on Saturday. "They will not be getting any
facilities that Sri Lanka Cricket has been offering them, including
physios, masseurs and coaches. They can't come for practice at our
venues."
Jayasuriya's selection panel was expected to name a squad for the first
Test against Bangladesh, on Sunday, but delayed the announcement until
after Jayasuriya had met with the players. If the players sign as
agreed, a full strength squad is likely to be named on Monday, after the
contracts have been finalised.
The only direct effect of the lockout so far has been Kumar Sangakkara's
omission from the side playing a three-day tour match against
Bangladesh. The match was supposed to be Sangakkara's return to
competitive cricket after fracturing his index finger during the Boxing
Day Test.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. He tweets here
Feeds: Andrew Fidel Fernando
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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