Cricket Contract dispute resolved, players sign

The Sri Lanka cricket team’s recent T20I series win over India was one of the factors that influenced the SLC ExCo to reconsider player contracts

Mathews unavailable for selection, not offered contract

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The three-month long dispute between Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the national cricketers over their annual contracts has finally been resolved with 18 of the 24 players signing yesterday.

The contract referred to as a ‘national contract’ was the same offered to the players in May this year, one which they had refused to sign on the grounds of transparency over the controversial performance-based points system where the players were categorised by their respective gradings.

The contract is for a five-month period from 1 August to 31 December 2021, after which a newly amended contract will be offered to the players from 1 January 2022.

“The players signed the contracts without any deviation from the contracts offered previously, which was formulated by Sri Lanka Cricket along with the Technical Advisory Committee,” stated a media release from SLC.

“The players were chosen under four categories and were nominated by the Selection Panel, based on a set of criteria such as Performance, Fitness, Leadership/Seniority, Professionalism/Code of Conduct, and Future/Adaptability. The criteria and the allocation of points to individual players were shared among the players before they signed the contracts,” the release further stated.

Among those who signed were Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne and former captains Dinesh Chandimal and Suranga Lakmal, all three of whom have been overlooked in white ball cricket since March this year.

From the original list of 24 players who were offered contracts in May, six players have been left out, namely, former captain Angelo Mathews, who was not considered as he is currently unavailable for selection, Isuru Udana, who has retired from international cricket, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella, and Kusal Mendis – all three of whom are currently serving a ban for breaching the bio-bubble during the tour of England in June – and fast bowler Kasun Rajitha.

The Daily FT on 9 August under the headline “Light at the end of the tunnel for player-contract dispute?” quoting SLC secretary Mohan de Silva said that the player-contract dispute would be resolved shortly.

“We may not call it a central contract, but we want to give the cricketers something. We understand their plight and we know the difficulties they are undergoing, but at the same time we are very bitter about the fact that before the England tour, we gave them the assurance that we will resolve the contract issue after the tour, and they didn’t want to accept it. We are conscious of their requirements and whatever said and done they are the people who bring the money to SLC because of their performances. We don’t deny that fact,” De Silva was quoted as saying.

Since the dispute arose over the contract, SLC has been offering the players only tour contracts.

De Silva said yesterday that the decision to offer the players the national contract was taken by the SLC Executive Committee and that the recent performances against India, where the Sri Lankan team showed some improvement by beating India to win the T20I series 2-1, was also a factor that swayed the committee to reconsider offering them contracts.

De Silva also stated that a further three players – Avishka Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne and Asitha Fernando – were awaiting ExCo approval to be included in the list of contracted players after their names were recommended by the national selectors and the Technical and Advisory Committee.

The 18 players who given national contracts are as follows:

GRADE A1: Dhananjaya de Silva

GRADE A2: Kusal Perera

GRADE A3: Dimuth Karunaratne

GRADE B1: Suranga Lakmal, Dasun Shanaka

GRADE B2: Wanindu Hasaranga, Lasith Embuldeniya

GRADE B3: Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Thirimanne

GRADE C1: Dushmantha Chameera

GRADE C2: Dinesh Chandimal, Lakshan Sandakan

GRADE C3: Vishwa Fernando

GRADE D1: Oshada Fernando, Ramesh Mendis

GRADE D2: Lahiru Kumara

GRADE D3: Ashen Bandara, Akila Dananjaya