http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DPMD-Jayawardene-c1397 threatens SLPL boycott if player contracts not settled – Cricket News Update
Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene has stated, at the launch of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 Premier League (SLPL), that the Lankan players will refuse to participate in the inaugural edition of the tournament unless the issue of central contracts is settled by Sri
Lanka Cricket (SLC).
“We will only sign SLPL contracts once the central contracts of Sri Lanka players are settled,” Jayawardene said. “We discussed it about a month ago, before the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 tour. I hope we can sort it out within the next few days.”
The SLPL is all set for its inaugural edition, scheduled to kick off on August 10. The first edition of the tournament features seven franchises, and the board has released a list of 107 local cricketers, and 56 overseas players who are due to participate
in the event. However, a budget for the tournament is yet to be finalised, with added pressure forcing the SLC to settle the issue of players’ contracts first.
The contracts have been under negotiation since March this year, with the board and players unable to reach a mutual agreement. However, SLC president Upali Dharmadasa has claimed that the matter will be sorted before July 25.
The previous year saw SLC’s contracted players going for 8 months without their salaries, after the board ran into financial trouble. The SLC accumulated debts of up to $70 million in order to finance the construction of two international stadiums (in Pallekele
and Hambantota), in addition to the renovation of Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium.
The players were eventually paid 42.36% of the fees that were due to them from the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cup to September 30, 2011. The payment (US$2 million) was made on December 16, via a direct transfer into the bank accounts of the players, as opposed to routing
the payment through SLC.
The board professed to have paid the remainder of the amount in March this year, after talks with Mahindananda Aluthgamage (the Sri Lankan sports minister) saw an amount of 600 million rupees (approx US$5.07 million) released to the board by the state-owned
Bank of Ceylon.
Nevertheless, since the expiry of the previous contracts, the players have been forced to go without pay, with negotiations for new contracts hanging in limbo.
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