Sri Lankan cricket today headed towards a majorcrisis with the Board deciding to dump 23 of its top players from internationalcricket until they sign on the contentious contract terms, which also cast ashadow on their participation in the IPL starting next month.
Less than a week before the start of the home series againstBangladesh, the SLC has told its selectors not to consider those cricketers forany international cricket, till the contract deadlock is resolved.
The decision was taken after the SLC officials met the revoltingplayers who had refused to sign the new contract terms. Player contractsexpired on February 28 and they were to sign them before March 2 deadline prescribedby the Board.
"We spoke to all of the players present at the meeting,and gave our viewpoints and they also gave their points," SLC PresidentUpali Dharmadasa was quoted as saying by 'ESPNcricinfo'.
"We have said, 'Nothing doing. We're going to stick to ourguns.' It ended like that. They will not be getting any facilities that SriLanka Cricket has been offering them, including, physios, masseurs and coaches.They can't come for practice at our venues."
The major point of the dispute in the new contracts is SLC'srefusal to pay the players 25 per cent of the Board's earnings from ICC events,as they have done since 2003. This payment is to compensate players for theirimages being used by the ICC and its sponsors to promote the tournament as wellas during the event.
Other points of contention include the Board's move to freezepayment to cricketers taking part in the IPL for as long as the player is withhis IPL team, a clause tying pay to team performance.
Under the new clause, if a Sri Lanka cricketerjoins his IPL team a week before the 2013 tournament begins, and remains withthe team until the final on May 26, he will lose 16.4 per cent of his annualsalary from SLC.