Sri Lanka's national cricket players Saturday refused to sign new pay contracts by a weekend deadline, but said they will take part in the tour of England later this month.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A lawyer representing the cricketers said they did not agree with a new performance-based pay scheme designed by a cricket board panel that included former Australia star Tom Moody.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Players refuse to sign annual and tour contracts until the pay dispute is resolved," lawyer Nishan Premathiratne said in a statement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The statement came as Sri Lanka Cricket extended the June 3 deadline until Sunday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The statement said players will take part in the upcoming tour of England where they are due to play three one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches without contracts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Even when players are refused pay, they will play for the country because that is their main objective."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Under the proposed pay structure, former captain Angelo Mathews and current Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne suffered the biggest cuts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Mathews' annual fee fell from $130,000 a year to $80,000 while Karunaratne was offered $70,000, a drop of $30,000.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
When the new pay plan was unveiled last month, players said it was "non-transparent" and urged Sri Lanka Cricket to not hold them at gunpoint.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Players also accused the board of violating confidentiality by publicly disclosing their proposed salaries.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
There was no immediate reaction from the board, but it has said that players could earn more under the new performance-based scheme formulated with the help of former skipper Aravinda de Silva and Moody.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Australian was hired in March as the Sri Lankan board's director of cricket to prepare the team for the next World Cup.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The 24 national players were offered annual contracts with all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva and wicket-keeper Niroshan Dikwella getting the highest remuneration of $100,000 each. However, both have also rejected the new pay deal, according to their lawyer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sri Lanka Cricket officials said the base fees in the new contracts were in addition to payments for each match as well as allowances for travel outside Colombo.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\r\nSLC president Shammi Silva said last month that he believed players had the potential to earn more and help Sri Lanka improve its rankings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sri Lanka is ranked eighth out of the 10 Test nations, ninth in one-day internationals and eighth in the Twenty20 rankings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Cash-strapped after a number of tours were cancelled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Sri Lanka has persuaded India to play extra games on a tour in July so that it can earn increased television revenue.<\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Sri-Lanka-Team.jpg", "alt_img": "Cricket Image for Sri Lankan Cricket Players Refuse To Sign Reduced Pay Contracts", "alt_title": "Sri Lankan Cricket Players Refuse To Sign Reduced Pay Contracts", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "Sri Lankan Cricket Players Refuse To Sign Reduced Pay Contracts On Cricketnmore", "seo_desc": "Sri Lanka's national cricket players Saturday refused to sign new pay contracts by a weekend deadline, but said they will take part in the tour of England later this month. A lawyer representing t", "seo_keywords": "Sri Lanka Cricket, Sri Lanka Cricket Team", "tag": "", "tagging": "Sri Lanka Cricket,Sri Lanka Cricket Team,", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "1", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "sri-lankan-cricket-players-refuse-to-sign-reduced-pay-contracts", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "1682", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "1", "auto_link": "1", "created": "2021-06-06 13:20:13", "updated": "2021-06-06 13:20:13", "img_from": "Image Source: Twitter", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": "Sri Lanka Cricket Team, Sri Lanka Cricket, SLC", "livescore_text": null, "livescore_link": null, "btn_text": null, "resend_feed": "1", "google_feed": "1", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "12", "jio_date": "2021-06-06 13:20:13", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2021-06-06 13:20:13", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/sri-lankan-cricket-players-refuse-to-sign-reduced-pay-contracts-77372" }