In the influence of Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa’s so called advisors, Aravinda De Silva has completely messed up an otherwise uncomplicated ‘annual contract‘ procedure. Moreover, due to his stubborn attitude, the possibility of a cordial negotiation has also faded away.
The dispute over national cricket contracts has taken an ugly turn now, as just three days ahead of team’s departure for the England tour, the players expected to be selected have refused to sign the tour contracts offered by Sri Lankan Cricket. In last few hours, 14 more players have joined the protest, which is not aimed for the money, but for the transparency!
The concern, raised by 38 players, are valid and genuine! The players are demanding a revision of the overall scoring and ranking system which sees points being allocated on five attributes–performance, fitness, leadership, professionalism, and future potential and adaptability.
In a virtual meeting on Thursday, players tried to get answers or their doubts. However, as the questions were asked to Aravinda de Silva, it fell in deaf ears!
“The players, who were representing all of us in the virtual meeting, asked about the logic behind ranking system. For example, Kasun Rajitha, who has played only two tests and was mostly injured during last one year, has been awarded a contract, but Nuwan Pradeep has been ignored. Also, Dimuth Karunaratne test performance in last one year is well above than others. But he has been put in a lower category, while many others, who scored less than him, have been awarded higher contracts. We just want to know the logic behind these decisions” a senior player, who is instrumental in the ongoing protest, told Cricket Age.
Aravinda, as usually however, remained stubborn, disinterested and clueless over players concerns during the virtual meeting! Cricket Age understands that not only him, Tom Moody, who is the master mind behind this ridiculously unpractical ranking system, also looked clueless about the ranking criteria.
“When a question was asked to Tom about the criteria of the ranking, he had no answer. To be fair, they all are passing the ball to each other” the senior player added.
Over the years, the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was negotiating with the players without any controversy, disagreement and dispute. This time, as the chairman of the so called technical advisory committee, Aravinda De Silva, in the influence of minister’s so called advisors and with the help of an over the top cricket director Tom Moody, has messed up the entire process!
“We just want to be judged by our performance and fitness, which is the standard criteria for awarding the annual contract around the globe” the senior player added further.
Aravinda, however, wants to implement the bizarre ranking system, just to justify white elephant Tom Moody’s worth, who was hired on a whopping salary package, largely due to his closeness with some so called ‘IPL contracts greedy’ legends.
“The biggest problem with Aravinda is that he doesn’t listen others and is not practical. But, this time, he has been completely exposed, as players are not fighting for the money, but for the transparency” a Sri Lanka cricket expert told Cricket Age.
Sri Lanka are scheduled to tour England this month for three one-day internationals and three T20I matches. The statement said that the players are ready to play the matches without contracts. “Even when players are refused pay, they will play for the country because that is their main objective” players lawyer Nishan Premathiratne said in a statement.
Aravinda has a long history of messing up things at Sri Lanka cricket with his highly questionable decisions. Also, his affection for foreigners has always harmed Sri Lanka cricket interest. Last time, Simon Willis was brought from nowhere. This time, he is backing Tom Moody to uplift Sri Lanka cricket, who has already lost the confidence and trust of majority of Sri Lanka players, in first few months itself!
“The minister has made those people decision-makers, who carries multiple agendas. It’s high time for Namal to cut wings of these decision makers, otherwise he will also become unpopular and a laughing stock” the cricket expert added.
