No contract for Lasith Malinga
Pulling off a major shocker, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) authorities have not offered an annual contract to the star pace bowler Lasith Malinga as the rest of the country’s top players signed their contracts last week ending a long-drawn dispute over the issue, SLC sources told “Daily Mirror”.
Malinga who is known around the cricketing world for his unusual bowling action as well as for his flashy hairstyles has been omitted from the list for unknown reasons, but the match-winning fiery paceman had been sidelined in the recent months due to a nagging leg injury as well as for alleged disciplinary reasons.
However, it is unprecedented for a top level player to be omitted from an annual contract due to a short term injury and it was only last year that the youngster from Galle created history at the World Cup in the West Indies capturing four South African wickets in four balls to grab the world attention and become an instant hit.
Though SLC officials have helped themselves to thumping pay hikes last month, none of the country’s top senior cricketers have received any increase in their payments despite performing brilliantly at the world stage and even winning the highly competitive Asia Cup last month in Pakistan.
The salary of all five senior most players Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas remained unchanged from last year at US $ 100,000, despite a dramatic increase of the cost of living in the countryHowever Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Muralitharan have been rewarded specially by SLC with an additional bonus of US 25,000 in view of their outstanding performances.
Interestingly, former captain Sanath Jayasuriya who was the most successful batsman at the recent Asia Cup has been deemed not outstanding while Vaas has also been ignored.
Sri Lanka’s latest match winner Ajantha Mendis who has created a sensation in world cricket with his bowling prowess has not been included in the list and has been offered a Sri Lanka “A” Team contract worth US $ 20,000, while his senior spin partner in Sri Lanka team Muralitharan earns a salary which is more than six times larger.
However SLC has decided to sharply increase the players’ match fees which are paid in addition to their contract fees.
The Test match fee which was US $ 2200 last year has been increased to US $ 5000 for a contracted player while non contracted player will receive US $ 6000 per test match.
The ODI match fees for a contracted player has been raised to US $ 3000 from the US $ 1375 paid last year. An uncontracted player will receive US $ 3500 this year for an ODI.
There is also a new Twenty20 match fee of US 1500 for a contracted player and US $ 1750 for an uncontracted player. In addition to contract fees and match fees, SLC will also pay the players a seniority payment and a win bonus upto 55 percent of the match fees in Tests and upto 33 percent of match fees in ODIs.
Players and team officials will also receive 25 percent of the team sponsorships, which would be divided among them on a special formula.
Among the Sri Lanka team sponsors are Taj TV/Ten Sports, Dilmah, MAS Holdings, Dialog, Nokia, Taj Samudra and Cricinfo.
-Dailymirror
Nokia is a sponsor for sri lankan team??? WOW.
Pulling off a major shocker, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) authorities have not offered an annual contract to the star pace bowler Lasith Malinga as the rest of the country’s top players signed their contracts last week ending a long-drawn dispute over the issue, SLC sources told “Daily Mirror”.
Malinga who is known around the cricketing world for his unusual bowling action as well as for his flashy hairstyles has been omitted from the list for unknown reasons, but the match-winning fiery paceman had been sidelined in the recent months due to a nagging leg injury as well as for alleged disciplinary reasons.
However, it is unprecedented for a top level player to be omitted from an annual contract due to a short term injury and it was only last year that the youngster from Galle created history at the World Cup in the West Indies capturing four South African wickets in four balls to grab the world attention and become an instant hit.
Though SLC officials have helped themselves to thumping pay hikes last month, none of the country’s top senior cricketers have received any increase in their payments despite performing brilliantly at the world stage and even winning the highly competitive Asia Cup last month in Pakistan.
The salary of all five senior most players Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas remained unchanged from last year at US $ 100,000, despite a dramatic increase of the cost of living in the countryHowever Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Muralitharan have been rewarded specially by SLC with an additional bonus of US 25,000 in view of their outstanding performances.
Interestingly, former captain Sanath Jayasuriya who was the most successful batsman at the recent Asia Cup has been deemed not outstanding while Vaas has also been ignored.
Sri Lanka’s latest match winner Ajantha Mendis who has created a sensation in world cricket with his bowling prowess has not been included in the list and has been offered a Sri Lanka “A” Team contract worth US $ 20,000, while his senior spin partner in Sri Lanka team Muralitharan earns a salary which is more than six times larger.
However SLC has decided to sharply increase the players’ match fees which are paid in addition to their contract fees.
The Test match fee which was US $ 2200 last year has been increased to US $ 5000 for a contracted player while non contracted player will receive US $ 6000 per test match.
The ODI match fees for a contracted player has been raised to US $ 3000 from the US $ 1375 paid last year. An uncontracted player will receive US $ 3500 this year for an ODI.
There is also a new Twenty20 match fee of US 1500 for a contracted player and US $ 1750 for an uncontracted player. In addition to contract fees and match fees, SLC will also pay the players a seniority payment and a win bonus upto 55 percent of the match fees in Tests and upto 33 percent of match fees in ODIs.
Players and team officials will also receive 25 percent of the team sponsorships, which would be divided among them on a special formula.
Among the Sri Lanka team sponsors are Taj TV/Ten Sports, Dilmah, MAS Holdings, Dialog, Nokia, Taj Samudra and Cricinfo.
-Dailymirror
Nokia is a sponsor for sri lankan team??? WOW.
