Light at the end of the tunnel for player-contract dispute?

SLC wants the cricketers to show more discipline, commitment and dedication towards the game

• SLC assures problem will be resolved shortly

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The player contract issue that has been dragging on since May is most likely to be resolved very shortly, according to Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary Mohan de Silva.

“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 that,” said de Silva.

“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. We are trying our best to see how best we can give them the contract. We may call it by some other name.”

The SLC together with the Technical and Advisory Committee decided not to award central contracts for the current year after the players refused to sign the new performance-based contracts when it was offered to them initially. The players requested for transparency on the performance-based points to get a clear idea of how they had been categorised, as certain junior cricketers had got a higher grade than some of the seniors. When it was eventually given to them, and the players later agreed to signing the central contracts, SLC by then had taken a decision not to grant them the central contracts but only tour contracts for the year. This decision had left the players without any monthly remuneration. In fact, the players have been signing tour contracts from October last year on a tour-by-tour basis and had decided to take a stand ahead of the England tour to put an end to it and sign a central contract.

De Silva said that, as there was no central contract for the players until December this year, they were working on some kind of contract to compensate them until the new contracts are properly evaluated, assessed and finalised.

“The new contracts come out in January. Until the new contracts are formulated, we will be looking to try and compensate the players reasonably to overcome their financial difficulties,” said de Silva.

“We are definitely conscious of the fact that most players have financial commitments to make payments on lease for whatever they have purchased and things like that. We are also human beings, we don’t want to harass them and drag this on and create animosity. We are seriously considering resolving the contract issue. Whatever said and done they are Sri Lankan players, they represent the country, and we have an obligation of looking after them.

“We have invested a lot in the players to bring them to this standard, giving them the best of facilities, money and grants. We understand the importance of looking after our players but at the same time we mean business. We want discipline to be practiced and also on the players’ part, their commitment and dedication towards the game. For us nobody is above the game, they can be the best of players.

“It was bad timing. The short period we were out of office till the elections were held, the people who ran cricket changed the captain and they rushed the new contracts and made a mess of things. All those things happened during that time.”