All the 24 Sri Lankan cricketers have refused to sign the new performance-based contracts, which was drawn up by the Cricket Development and Technical Advisory Committee, as the deadline set by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) ended on Thursday.
The contracts were drawn with the assistance of the selection committee, the head coach and the director of cricket.
Earlier, a lawyer, who is representing the 24 players, had said that the cricketers feel that the deal was unfair and lacked transparentcy.
After the contracts was offered to the players, they released a statement saying they were “shocked and dismayed” by the new contract proposal by the SLC.
With the deadline now over, the Sri Lankan players are scheduled to tour England for a white-ball series and in such a scenario, they are likley to sign a “tour contract”.
Significantly, the players had also signed a similar type of contract before traveling to Bangladesh for the recently conculded three-match ODI rubber, which they lost 1-2.
Earlier, 1996 World Cup winner and Cricket Committee Chairman Aravinda de Silva hasurged the cricketers to perform on the field instead of focussing on the contracts.
“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,” Aravinda De Silva had told the DailyNews.lk
With the deadline now over, the SLC is expected to take a call at the Executive committee meeting of the new office-bearers.