SL vs IND: 25 Sri Lankan cricketers sign contracts ahead of the limited-overs series
Sri Lanka cricketers and their cricket board have been at loggerheads since the month of May surrounding the players’ contracts. The players reckoned that the new contract isn’t transparent enough and the seniors felt that it rewards future potential rather than experience and performance. The cricketers protested against SLC through a statement.
The entire saga had irked Aravinda de Silva, the incumbent Cricket Committee Chairman of SLC. De Silva, also a former Sri Lankan skipper, talked about the benefits of the contract and also asked the national team to start “winning” matches rather than “complaining”.
“The most important fact is that they should get into the middle and play positive cricket and start winning games for the country rather than complaining,” de Silva was quoted as saying back in May.
“This positive approach will encourage us to consider offering them more benefits, like some of the other countries in our region. If the team creates value, their incentives will also go up,” he added.
Positive development for Sri Lanka
In the meantime, as per reports in adaderana.lk, 25 Sri Lanka cricketers have signed contracts before their bilateral home series against India. The tour gets underway on July 13 with all the three ODIs and as many T20Is to be played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
The Lankans recently toured England without a contract as the turmoil between the board and the players continued. Lasith Embuldeniya, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Ashen Bandara, and Kasun Rajitha were left out of the residential camp, which started on June 25.
The five players didn’t travel to the United Kingdom for the ODI and T20I series. They were among the players to be offered national contracts. SLC CEO Ashley de Silva updated on the players’ participation for the series against Shikhar Dhawan’s India.
“Until the national contract issue is resolved they were asked to sign the tour contract if they are going to be available for the Indian series so that they can go into a bubble as we are investing in them.
“But they were reluctant to sign the tour contract and therefore they were left out of the residential camps. They did not join the bubble in Dambulla or Colombo,” he stated.
