Sri Lanka haven’t shut the door on Mathews and Karunaratne, says coach Arthur in wake of pay dispute

Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur said on Thursday that stars Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne could make a return to the squad, despite their axing as players wrangle with the national board over wages.

Sri Lanka left Mathews, Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and senior players behind for their three one-day internationals in Bangladesh.

Players are refusing to sign new contracts that would cut fees for some by 40%.

Changes were also ordered after Sri Lanka lost a one-day series in West Indies 3-0 in March.

Kusal Perera has been made captain for this series while the selectors recalled Kusal Mendis and made him vice-captain.

“I think we just took the team in a direction. There’s certainly no door closed on any of them,” Arthur said in Dhaka.

“Angelo and Chandi are fantastic cricketers who are very much part of our Test unit at the moment.”

Arthur said Sri Lanka had to start looking at players for the 2023 World Cup.

“That’s the balancing act when you are transitioning a team, how you get it right. We will keep tweaking that until you do it properly,” he said.

Arthur said Sri Lanka needed a tougher middle order and named Kushal Perera, Kusal Mendis, wicketkeeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella and Dhananjaya de Silva as the names the team would be “banking on”.

In Friday’s…

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