Former Sri Lanka captain and current national Cricket Committee Chairman Aravinda de Silva lashed out at the current cricketers for complaining of the new contracts given to them by saying they should focus on winning games for the country first rather than crying for the salary.
Recently, Sri Lankan cricketers have expressed their disappointment over the new contracts offered to them by the Sri Lanka Cricket as they are not happy with the new players' contracts system that was mainly decided by the technical committee head by De Silva and Director of Cricket Tom Moody.
Even the white-ball captain Kusal Perera admitted concerns among players over the new contracts given to the players and said it is affecting the team and now the result is that Sri Lanka lost a bilateral ODI series to Bangladesh for the first time – 2-1 in Dhaka.
Reacting to the pay concerns by the Lankan players, the legendary batsman said the team must create value first, and then their incentives will also go up accordingly.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, de Silva told Daily News: “We discussed this matter in depth before we presented it to the players. Unlike in the past, we have increased the benefits three-fold than what it was but purely on the team's performance. If they win a Test series, we pay them USD 150,000 which was earlier limited to USD 50,000. It has to be a collective effort by the whole team.”
He added, “We also introduced a slab for the T20 format, which also runs up to a maximum of USD 50,000, which earlier didn't have any rewards at all. The most important fact is that they should get into the middle and play positive cricket and start winning games for the country rather than complaining. This positive approach will encourage us to consider offering them more benefits, like some of the other countries in our region. If the team creates value, their incentives will also go up.”
Earlier, Sri Lanka cricketers refused to sign new contracts, as they felt some players had been given unfair deals. Lawyer Nishan Sydney Premathiratne, representing top Sri Lanka players, had said in a statement: “The players also believe that the provincial tournaments have been played on an ad hoc and on-and-off basis which is also a contributing factor.”
The statement added, “The players are not in agreement to sign unfair and non-transparent contracts and urge SLC to not hold the players at gunpoint. Unlike in other nations when disputes arise and result in players seeking other avenues by way of franchise cricket, the Sri Lankan players will continue to be readily available to play and be selected for Sri Lanka.”
(With ANI Inputs)
