Colombo, Sep 7: Sri Lanka has decided to act tough with national players who are refusing to go ahead with the England tour. The Sri Lankan Cricket Committee have decided to go ahead with strict actions if any player fails to obey the diktats of the board. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Interim Committee Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga stressed that he would not budge from his stand in honouring Sri Lanka’s tour obligation with England next year.
“As far as SLC is concerned we will not change our decision to send the Sri Lanka team to play in England. We have signed an MoU with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and we have to honour that,” the State-run Sunday Observer quoted Ranatunga, well-known as “Captain Cool” as saying.

The former World Cup winning Sri Lankan captain Ranatunga, who was well-known for backing players on and off the field during his playing days, has clarified his stand saying that his duty was to look after Sri Lanka cricket even if the players went ahead and retired from the national team to partake in the IPL tournament.

Claiming that SLC had “never signed” a contract with the IPL contracted Lankan players permitting them to play in the IPL whenever they wanted to, Ranatunga has said that the players were given “the green light to pad only in the inaugural IPL tournament”.

“They need to sign a two-year contract with the ICC and SLC even if they are to retire and go to the IPL,” Ranatunga clarified the stand.
Sri Lanka is supposed to play two Tests and three one-dayers in May next year in England and the time table is clashing with the 2009 IPL tournament, which was ironically approved by SLC for the national players to play.

The players argue that the IPL contracts had been signed long before the idea of a tour to England was mooted. They want to go ahead with their initial commitments.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardane, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Pervez Mahroof, Thilakaratne Dishan, Dilhara Fernando and Ajantha Mendis are some of the key players who have signed three-year contracts with the IPL.

As per some unconfirmed reports, some players are even considering of retiring from the national team in order to honour the IPL contracts which they have already signed.

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Colombo, Sep 6: Sri Lanka cricket’s crisis over the timing of the England tour is clashing with the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) next year. This has deepened Saturday with the interim administration and several key players in the team refusing to budge an inch from their positions.
Despite reports that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) wanted to go ahead with the England tour with the best players, several key players in the team have stood their grounds on their commitments to play the IPL tournament. This has led to the intervention from sports minister Gamini Lokuge.

According to a top SLC official, the initiatives by the minister to hold “compromise talks” with the administrators and the players “are yet to provide a breakthrough”.

“Efforts are being made to this crisis over the past two months. The players have completed two series after the crisis (Asia Cup tournament and the tour by India). But a solution is yet to be brought out,” the SLC official cleared on Friday.

The sports minister has appointed SLC CEO Duleep Mendis to solve out the crisis. .

When contacted, Mendis expressed his confidence and said he was hoping to meet the players next week to find a compromise. He also stressed that there was no way that Sri Lanka could send a second-level team for the proposed England tour.

“We have to send the best team for the England tour. I will have to come out with suggestions on how best we could solve this problem,” said Mendis.

Sri Lanka is due to play two Tests and three one-dayers in England next May. The time table is clashing with the 2009 IPL tournament.

The players argue that the IPL contracts had been signed long before the idea of a tour to England was mooted and want to go ahead with their initial commitments.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardane, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Pervez Mahroof, Thilakaratne Dishan and Dilhara Fernando are some among the key players who have signed three-year contracts with the IPL. The 38-year-old left-handed Sanath Jayasuriya is the third highest paid player of the IPL.

Sri Lanka’s new 23-year old spin sensation, Ajantha Mendis, also has signed up with the Kolkata Knight Riders for a period of three years.

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