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Sri Lanka's top cricketers signed Sri Lanka Cricket's contracts on Monday, bringing the crisis
to an official end, after having been frozen out by SLC during the
weekend. A resolution appeared unlikely as late as Sunday afternoon, but
a meeting
between chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya and the players, approved by
SLC, broke the deadlock and a four-tiered contracts list has since been
issued.
The top pay category has been expanded from five players to seven, with
new captain Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara and Rangana Herath joining
Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga in the top
bracket. Thilan Samaraweera, who was in last year's top tier, has been
put in a special category with Prasanna Jayawardene, as both players
will only be considered for Test selection. Twenty20 captain and Test
and ODI vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal has been given a category two
contract.
Lower down in the hierarchy Dimuth Karunaratne, Shaminda Eranga, Jeevan
Mendis, Kushal Perera, Nuwan Pradeep and Sachithra Senanayake have all
been offered central contracts for the first time. Dilhara Fernando,
Tharanga Paranavitana and Chamara Kapugedara are the players to miss
out, having held central contracts in 2012. Suraj Randiv has been
reissued a contract despite not having been named in the squad for the
first Test against Bangladesh.
List of SLC contracted players |
SLC officials said they were pleased the players could begin focussing
on cricket ahead, after the contracts issue had been resolved. SLC CEO
Ajit Jayasekara said there would be no negative consequences for the
players who had refused to sign their contracts by deadline. "As far as
we are concerned, the matter is closed," he said.
Jayasuriya, who had personally set up the discussion that ended the
deadlock, reiterated SLC's commitment to move past the dispute, and said
agreement was reached amicably. "I explained to the players as the
chairman of selectors, what we are trying to do in Sri Lankan cricket.
They accepted that and were happy, and said that they would try. In the
end they wanted to play for Sri Lanka."
The major contention for players was SLC's refusal to pay 25% of the
board's earnings from ICC events as they have done since 2003. This
payment was to compensate players for the use of their image by the ICC
and its sponsors for the duration of the tournament. Although the
players agreed to sign away that payment for this year, they had only
done so in the hope that dialogue about that money would continue with
SLC, with the chance for that payment to be reintroduced in future
contracts.
An SLC release on Monday said that after the contracts were issued, the
players had proposed investing part of their share from the ICC payment
into cricket development, but this was rejected by the board, who felt
"cricket development purview should be vested with the governing body,
than with players in concern".
The release further said SLC expected to pay 67% of its 2013 revenue on
the 23 players with national contracts. "If SLC agreed to grant the
players' request to include the guarantee fee component to the contract
value, SLC will have to bear 81% of its annual revenue towards the 23
Cricketers, leaving no provision for a successful all round year. SLC's
stance towards this matter was maintained taking in to account all
cricketing interests pertaining to Sri Lanka."
Mahela Jayawardene is the only player who has not yet signed a contract,
but he is expected to do so when he returns to the country.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. He tweets here
Feeds: Andrew Fidel Fernando
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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