Sri Lanka players agree to resolve contracts issue after England tour

Sri Lanka’s national cricket team players have agreed to sign the tour declaration and participate in the upcoming England series, according to sources. 

The annual contracts issue is to be resolved after the England tour, the source said. 

Sri Lanka players had refused to sign tour contracts for England amid an ongoing tussle with the board over an alleged lack of transparency in the central contracts. 

The players feel the ratings system used for gradation lacks clarity and that the compensation they’re offered is inadequate. This had come days before Sri Lanka’s depature for England for their limited-overs tour later this month.

“Because of the problems with the transparency of the ratings system devised by SLC, the players will not sign the [tour contract],” the release signed by 38 top players said.

Sri Lanka Cricket, in May, had announced a five-point grading system to offer retainer packages for its contracted cricketers including the parameters of Performance (out of 50), Fitness (out of 20), Leadership (out of 10), Professionalism (out of 10) and Future Potential and Adaptability (out of 10) for a score out of 10.

Players were slotted into four grades A, B, C, D with each grade further divided into three sub-categories bearing different retainer values.

A deadline of June 3 was set for the players to sign the contract, but that wasn’t adhered to with players sticking to their stand.

Sri Lanka are slated to tour England for three T20Is followed by three ODIs, starting from June 23, with their departure scheduled for June 9.

-With inputs from agencies