SL Players at loggerheads over contract

SLCricket , players at loggerheads over contract

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was facing a deadlock over central contracts with players refusing to sign because of certain clauses SLC has brought in to safeguard domestic cricket. The matter is being resolved between SLC and the Cricketers’ Association who are representing the players. SLC is hopeful that the issue would be settled once the players return from India and the contracts would be signed ahead of next month’s Asia Cup.

SLC sources said that the players are refusing to sign because they don’t want to be tied down playing domestic cricket which would deprive them of playing county cricket in England and the on-going IPL Twenty20 in India.
SLC feel that these clauses are necessary if domestic cricket is to be safeguarded. Without a strong domestic structure they point out would lead to a weak national team.

SLC requires around Rs 160 million to conduct its domestic tournaments and they feel if the national players are not going to make themselves available to play the sponsors will lose interest. A case in point was the recently concluded domestic provincial Twenty 20 tournament where the majority of national cricketers were absent as they were tied down playing in the IPL.

SLC sources said that certain sponsors had shown reservations to come forward in the future because without the presence of national stars the Twenty20 provincial tournament failed to attract the attention it should have and proved to be a flop.

SLC sources also pointed out that when national players get injured it is the SLC that has to spend for their medical expenses getting them back to fitness. A case in point was the injuries to fast bowlers Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga. Maharoof and Fernando were not available for selection for the series in the Caribbean due to injury but soon after recovery they flew to India to play in the IPL. Malinga who was also signed to play in the IPL could not make it because of a nagging knee injury for which SLC is spending heavily on his medical expenses to get him back to fitness. Part of the delay sources said was due to the national team’s physio resigning from his post to be available for the IPL when SLC had refused him permission.

Sources said that in future no foreign physio would be assigned to the national side and local physios who they think are equally good would be made use of.

The source also pointed out that Sri Lanka’s prime batsman Kumar Sangakkara had got injured while playing in the IPL and questioned whether he would be fully fit to play in next month’s Asia Cup.

“We don’t want to deprive the cricketers from earning extra money but what we want is for them to play in the domestic tournaments, which is from where we draw our reserves for the national team,” the source indicated.

They said that a permanent domestic program has been drawn up where the national players will have a fair idea to plan out their commitments for the year. The program would run from October to mid-December for Premier club cricket (league, limited overs and Twenty20) and from December to March for provincial cricket (league, limited overs and Twenty20).

Another clause in the contract which has not met with the players’ approval is asking them to go through SLC instead of an agent for future contracts.

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