Sri Lanka’s top cricketers and governing body locked in pay dispute

Sri Lanka’s leading cricketers led by Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne along with host of senior players, including Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews have refused to sign the central contracts offered by the board which they believe is far less compared to other countries.

If the dispute is not sorted in due course of time, it could well affect Sri Lanka’s bilateral series with India in July, where six white ball matches is expected to fill the coffers of a cash-strapped cricket board of the island nation.

A statement from the attorney representing almost all top players including the Test skipper Karunaratne, Mathews, Chandimal and others said remuneration proposed to players are one third compared to some other cricket playing nations as per Federation of International Cricket Association report.

The SLC this week said that 24 of the leading players had been offered contracts under four categories and they had been given a deadline until June 3 to sign on dotted lines.

In the categories released only six players are in the category A and their annual pay ranges between $70,000 to $100,000.

Just for comparative analysis, India’s group C (lowest category) centrally contracted players annually earn a retainer fee of Rs 1 crore (approximately $137,000).

The Sri Lankan players said in a joint statement…

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