Sri Lanka's chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya
held a special discussion with the locked out top cricket players Sunday
evening to resolve the deepening crisis and following the discussion
all national players have agreed to sign the annual contract, local
media reports said.
Jayasuriya as a personal attempt to break the deadlock between the
national players and the cricket administration met with the players
today after the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Upali Dharmadasa
refused to have any more discussions with the players and the Sports
Minister ordered to pick a debutant team to play against touring
Bangladesh team.
The cricket board has given the players an ultimatum to sign their
annual contracts by Sunday morning or else they will not be playing in
any international cricket including the Bangladesh tour series that is
to start today.
A meeting between the SLC administrators and 23 top national players on
Saturday ended unsuccessfully with both sides sticking to their guns.
The edict affected former captain Kumar Sangakkara immediately who was
scheduled to play at the first warm-up match with Bangladesh staring
today.
The new Captain Angelo Mathews and T20Captain Dinesh Chandimal are yet
to play in their roles since their appointments last month.
The SLC barred the players who will not sign the contract by Sunday from its facilities and services.
About 60 national players have refused to sign the SLC's annual contract
for this year demanding the SLC to pay them 25% of the board's earnings
from ICC events.
The SLC has been paying the players the 25% fee since 2003 but this year
the cash strapped SLC has dropped that from the annual contract saying
that Sri Lanka's national players are well paid and with the new
contract 67% of the board's income will be used to pay players.
The selection panel headed by Jayasuriya was to pick the team Sunday for
the first Test match against Bangladesh starting March 8.
All national cricketers have agreed to sign the contract with Sri Lanka
Cricket (SLC) after a lengthy meeting tonight at SLC headquarters,
National Chief Selector Sanath Jayasuriya said.
How ever players were refused to comment regarding the issue.
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