Jayasuriya not considered for Central Contracts by Sri Lankan Cricket Board
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 has been kept in the top category.
Jayasuriya who was recently elected a Member of Parliament is now 41 years old, and has been an integral part of Sri Lankan team for more than a decade and a half.
Jayasuriya took Sri Lankan cricket to another level in 1996, when he opened the batting alongside Kaluwitharana and the pair redefined the art of batting in the first 15 overs in one day cricket. During the World Cup in the sub continent Jayasuriya smashed everything that came his way and set up a new trend.
The veteran who has played 110 test matches and 444 one day internationals insisted that he wants to carry on till the next World Cup in 2011 which takes place in the sub continent. However, his recent run of form has been less than impressive. The T20 World Championship that took place in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 was believed to be where he would once again regain his form as he is most suited to the shorter version of the game. Still he averaged only 3.75 in the whole tournament, and looking at the one day games he has made a best score of 31 in his last 6 ODI matches.
Former Sri Lankan batting legend Aravinda De Silva said that the board had several meetings and thought about the contracts to great extent. De Silva, who is the chairman of selectors, said that the board is looking to cut down the number of players with central contracts to only 20. Currently there are 30 players who are in that list but the board wants to cut it down so that only the best players will be holding the central contracts.
De Silva said there is no denying the record that Jayasuriya has had over the years, but the contracts take into account the performance in the year gone by. Sanath has not been in great form and that is the only reason he has not been offered a central contract. He added that we pay extra attention on keeping experienced players in the team. That is the reason http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Chaminda-Vaas-c1223 and Muralitharan have been kept in the team. The door for Jayasuriya has not been closed yet, he has been asked to play English county cricket and the board is hoping that he would regain some sort of form there.
When asked that Muralitharan is set to retire so why is he being offered a central contract and that too in top category; De Silva said that the contracts were designed and finalised back in march. He said that there was no news or hint of Murali deciding to retire. He added that Muralitharan did come up to him and say that he would not mind if he is not considered for the central contracts and will be happy to be a part of the ODI team. De Silva said that he assured Murali that they will definitely want him in the World Cup so he would be part of the central contracts.
There are 2 new faces in the central contracts, Suraj Randiv the young off spinner has made the cut and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dinesh-c54134 Chandimal, the middle order batsman, who has been impressive in recent games has also been handed a central contract.
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