Sri Lanka Cricket officials are getting ready to announce the annual player contracts of national cricketers. Under the new contract grades and payment scheme, the senior cricketers such as Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Suranga Lakmal and Test skipper Dimuth Karunaratne will get a major pay cuts.
The proposed annual player contracts have been developed based on the performances of national cricketers during the two-year period of 01st January 2019 to 31st January 2021 across all formats (Test, ODI & T20Is).
According to the proposed contract list, wicket-keeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella and all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva will get the highest retainer amount of US$ 100,000 as they have been categorized in the top tier of Category ‘A’.
The veteran batsman Angelo Mathews who earned a retainer amount of US$ 130,000 in the last year’s annual contract, will lose a significant amount of US$ 50,000 this year with him being categorized in the second tier of Category A with a retainer of US$ 80,000.
The newly appointed ODI skipper Kusal Janith Perera is in the same contract grade as Mathews does with a retainer of US$ 80,000.
Sri Lankan Test skipper Dimuth Karunaratne who earned US$ 100,000 in the previous contract will also lose a significant amount of money this year as his retainer payment has been brought down to US$ 70,000.
Sri Lanka’s premier Test fast bowler Suranga Lakmal has been demoted to the category B in this year’s contract list and expected get a retainer amount of US$ 65,000 with a pay cut of US$ 35,000 from last year.
Interestingly, one of Sri Lanka’s most senior batsmen Dinesh Chandimal has been categorized in category C with an offer of US$ 45,000.
Young batsmen Pathum Nissanka, Ashen Bandara and off spinning all-rounder Ramesh Mendis who made their international debuts this year would be delighted with the new contract list as they are offered retainers in the very first year in international cricket.
Though the majority of the players who performed well in the last 2 years have earned their contracts, there are notable omissions from the list. Young talents such as Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksha, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Minod Bhanuka, Praveen Jayawickrama, Asitha Fernando and senior cricketers Roshen Silva, Nuwan Pradeep, Dilruwan Perera and Ashan Priyanjan have missed out on contracts for this year.
However, the proposed annual contracts are yet to be signed by the players and it is reported that several senior cricketers are not willing to sign the contracts as they undergo significant pay cuts.
Proposed New Contract grades and payment
