Srilanka’s national cricket link playersSaturday refused to sign new pay contracts by a weekend deadline, but saidthey will take part in the tour of England later this month.
A lawyer representing the cricketers said they did not agree with a newperformance-based pay scheme designed by a cricket board panel thatincluded former Australia star Tom Moody. “Players refuse to sign annualand tour contracts until the pay dispute is resolved,” lawyer NishanPremathiratne said in a statement. The statement came as Sri Lanka Cricketextended the June 3 deadline until Sunday.
The statement said players will take part in the upcoming tour of Englandwhere they are due to play three one-day internationals and three Twenty20matches without contracts. “Even when players are refused pay, they willplay for the country because that is their main objective.” Under theproposed pay structure, former captain Angelo Mathews and current Testcaptain Dimuth Karunaratne suffered the biggest cuts. Mathews’ annual feefell from $130,000 a year to $80,000 while Karunaratne was offered $70,000,a drop of $30,000. When the new pay plan was unveiled last month, playerssaid it was “non-transparent” and urged Sri Lanka Cricket to not hold themat gunpoint.
Players also accused the board of violating confidentiality by publiclydisclosing their proposed salaries. There was no immediate reaction fromthe board, but it has said that players could earn more under the newperformance-based scheme formulated with the help of former skipperAravinda de Silva and Moody. The Australianlink was hired in March as the SriLankan board’s director of cricket to prepare the team for the next WorldCup. The 24 national players were offered annual contracts with all-rounderDhananjaya de Silva and wicket-keeper Niroshan Dikwella getting the highestremuneration of $100,000 each. However, both have also rejected the new paydeal, according to their lawyer.
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Sri Lanka Cricket officials said the base fees in the new contracts were inaddition to payments for each match as well as allowances for traveloutside Colombo. SLC president Shammi Silvalink said last month that hebelieved players had the potential to earn more and help Sri Lanka improveits rankings. Sri Lanka is ranked eighth out of the 10 Test nations, ninthin one-day internationals and eighth in the Twenty20 rankings.Cash-strapped after a number of tours were cancelled last year because ofthe coronavirus pandemic, Sri Lanka has persuaded India to play extra gameson a tour in July so that it can earn increased television revenue.
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