England tour “not at all” in jeopardy, will go ahead sans contracts: SLC

 The Sri Lanka team will leave for England without signing any contracts.

• New performance-based model will be explained to players after UK tour

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka’s tour of England will go ahead as scheduled despite the ongoing dispute between Sri Lanka Cricket and the players over new performance-based contracts, CEO of SLC Ashley de Silva stated.

SLC CEO Ashley de Silva

“Some have said that the tour is in jeopardy, not at all. We are going ahead with the tour,” said De Silva. “We have also given that assurance to the ECB (England & Wales Cricket Board) that we are going ahead with the tour.”

De Silva stated that the tour would still go ahead if the selected 24 players even refused to sign a tour agreement. The players are currently in dispute with SLC over the new performance-based annual contracts, as well as the tour contract, which they are refusing to sign based on a “lack of transparency”.

De Silva said that the players would not lose out on anything by not signing the tour agreement, because it is a “sort of a binding which we get so that we have some sort of control”.

“Going on a tour without a tour or annual contract is not a major issue, it’s a kind of a binding between two parties,” said De Silva. “The binding is they will go on a particular date and return on a particular date. They will comply with certain requirements of both Cricket Boards (SLC and ECB). There is an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) which we sign where there are a few obligations which we have when you go on a tour. I don’t think we will deviate from those obligations. When they go on a tour without signing, they will get all the benefits, their insurance, their perks, clothing, everything will be done.”

When queried whether the players would lose out on any money by not signing the tour contract, De Silva stated: “We haven’t discussed with them yet, so I cannot comment on that. It is something which we might have to regularise. When it comes to payments, there are audit queries now which will affect the players. Those are the areas which we have to look into and to get certain advice very clearly on how we are going to do all that. It’s an area we have not gone into and even thought about.”

De Silva said that this is the first time since SLC started contracting players that a team will be going on a tour without signing an annual contract or a tour contract.

He assured that there are no changes to the tour contract and that it is only in the annual contract where the performance-based model has been included.

“The tour agreement is almost the same, maybe one or two things may change related to the binding to the agreement which they were going to sign. Other than that, the rest of it is the same.”

Non-contracted players also extend their support

The players who declined to sign the contracts have been strengthened by a further 10 joining them, making it a total of 38. They have stated in a letter to SLC through their lawyer Nishan Premathiratne the following:  

“The players have, to-date, not been made privy to the points/score sheets allotted to each and every player in respect of the categories identified in this new performance model, and thus the players afforded with contracts shall not be signing their annual contracts and shall not be complying with the extended deadline on the basis that such lack of transparency is unfair.

“Moreover, the players are also of the view that any model of performance should be based on matters which can be measured/assessed by facts. i.e. statistics. Future potential, leadership and professionalism are very subjective and cannot be assessed in such a manner. Players are of the view that a performance-based model should be purely and exclusively based on performance and fitness assessments, and no other arbitrary factors should be introduced to such a model which can be prone to manipulation.

“Out of the players who have been shortlisted/selected to tour England in respect of the ODI and T20 series, none of the players shall be signing the England tour contract and/or any form of tour contract for any subsequent tours, unless the issues pertaining to the annual contracts are resolved. The tour contract also refers to matters of the annual contract for 2021, which is yet unsigned. In the event the annual contract is not settled and finalised and the dispute is pending, the validity of the tour contract, which refers to this unsigned contract, is also an issue.

“In respect of the players who have not been shortlisted/selected to tour England for the ODI and T20 series, such players shall also not be entering into any form of tour contract for any subsequent tours, until this issue of transparency is resolved with a proper performance-based model being introduced.

“Moreover, the players take up the position that even though they shall not be signing any form of contract, they would nevertheless be fully available to tour and play for Sri Lanka and such would not be compromised at any cost.”

“Focus on the tour for now”

De Silva said that players have not properly understood the new performance-based model and that it would be explained individually after they return from the tour of England.

“I don’t think the players got a proper kind of feedback in the sense they were given the feedback, but I suppose they have not understood it properly,” said De Silva.

“What happened was, when it was communicated to the players, the players themselves said it was a good model and were very supportive of it. It’s just that they would like to know how they have been evaluated,” explained De Silva. “The selection committee, Tom Moody and head of the Technical Committee (Aravinda de Silva), including the head coach Mickey Arthur, who drew up the new model, individually gave the players appointments and explained it to them. Maybe they were not clear on that, maybe you need to have a one-on-one physically with them.

“Because of the current situation we had to do everything online. When you do it online some of these players are also not electronically equipped, so they don’t sometimes understand when they are briefed and explained. We could not meet the players physically because immediately after they returned from Bangladesh they had to go into a bubble.

‘It should be kind of one-on-one, physically explaining it to them, and whatever clarification they want done, they will sit down and do it. After they return from England, we will definitely do it with all the players who have been offered contracts.

“We will write to the players before they go on the tour. For now, we just want them to focus on the tour.”

The team is scheduled to leave for England on 8 June.