Angelo Mathews, 3 banned cricketers missing in SLC’s annual contract list of 18 players

As many as 18 cricketers in the national men’s cricket set-up have signed for the Annual Player Contracts, Sri Lanka Cricket announced on Friday.

The contratcs will be in effect from August 1 to December 31st, 2021, the board said.

Meanwhile, all-rounder Angelo Mathews, along with three suspended players — Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis — do not find a place in SLC’s list.

“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that 18 players signed the National Player Contracts, which came into effect from August 1, 2021. The new contract will be for a five-month period and will end on the December 31, 2021,” the SLC said in a statement on Friday.

The board also clarified that Mathews was not in the contracted players’ list as he is “currently unavailable for selection”.

“Angelo Mathews, who was among the players offered a contract was not considered, as he is currently unavailable for selection, whilst Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis are currently serving a ban. Isuru Udana has retired from international cricket,” it added.

Earlier, Mathews, 34, was reportedly in discussion with his national board about his retirement plans and was not part of the Sri Lankan side which recently played a white-ball series against the Shikhar Dhawan-led Team India in Colombo.

Mathews had last played during Sri Lanka’s tour of West Indies earlier this year.

Significantly, Mendis, wicketkeeper Dickwella and Gunathilaka were sent back home from England for breaching bio-bubble protocols in Durham in the mid of the tour.

“The players were chosen under four categories and were nominated by the Selection Panel, based on a set of criteria such as Performance, Fitness, Leadership/Seniority, Professionalism/Code of Conduct, and Future/Adaptability. The criteria and the allocation of points to individual players were shared among the players before they signed the contracts,” it further said.

List of 18 players who have signed the contract are as follows:

Dhananjaya De Silva, Kusal Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Suranga Lakmal, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lasith Embuldeniya, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal, Lakshan Sandakan, Vishwa Fernando, Oshada Fernando, Ramesh Mendis, Lahiru Kumara, Ashen Bandara, Akila Dananjaya

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