The World Cup-winning Sri Lanka team will be in for a rare windfall as one player will take home a purse to the tune of Rs 22 million, following their heady success in the World Twenty20 final last Sunday in Bangladesh, Ceylon Today reliably learns.
The total prize money entitled to the Sri Lanka team will be 2.5 million following the offer of a bonus of 1.5 million US dollars including the original fee of 500, 000 dollars which Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had promised to the national team in the event of them winning the World Twenty20 title.
This was in addition to the further prize money of US dollars 1 million as winners’ cheque for emerging the 2014 World Twenty20 champions.
The total prize money amounting to 2.5 million US dollars once it is multiplied by 130 and divided by 15, will roughly amount to Rs 22 million, which one Sri Lankan player will take home thanks to the current windfall.
All the prize money entitled to the national players excluding Chathuranga de Silva who was flown in as injury cover, will be distributed equally among the entire squad of 15 players, SLC CEO Ashley de Silva told Ceylon Today.
He said that SLC had decided to offer 1.5 million dollars, including the original fee of 500,000 dollars to the national team in order to motivate them to lift the title and shake off their reputation as chokers in ICC finals.
Asked whether any of the support staff of the national team will also be entitled to this windfall, Ashley de Silva affirmed that it will only be distributed among the Sri Lankan squad members.
The total prize money offered to the national team by both the SLC and the ICC is expected to end the nagging contracts row between the players and their employers (SLC), after the latter had left for the World Twenty20 without signing the player contracts.
The players before their departure to Bangladesh had maintained their opposition to a contract that did not feature a percentage cut of the payment SLC receives for the team’s participation in global tournaments.
The players’ original demand was for 20% of the gross sum received by SLC for tournament participation.
The players had softened their demands by the eve of their departure, asking for 12% of the tournament fee.
The ICC is expected to pay SLC approximately $8.9 million for the World T20, meaning the figure the players had held out for, was about $1.07 million.
The difference between the guaranteed flat fee the board offered and the percentage sought by the players’ amounts to about $570,000 for the tournament.
But beyond those sums, the players’ objection to SLC’s proposal was largely driven by the belief they are due a percentage of the ICC payment, primarily as compensation for the use of their images in promotional material for global tournaments.
Sri Lanka’s players had received a cut of the ICC event fee from 2003 to 2012, until the board struck that payment from player contracts last year. (JK)
