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With the contract dispute between Sri Lanka Cricket and the players yet to resolved, the selectors have asked players to come clear on their availability for the forthcoming tour of Ireland and England. |
Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya said the players had been asked to inform about their availability for the twin tours beginning May 6 and ending on June 28.
Sri Lanka will engage Ireland in two ODIs in Dublin on May 6 and 8 before starting the England tour with two T20 matches. There will be five ODIs and two Tests at Lord’s and Headingley.
Jayasuriya said the two Sri Lanka players in the current IPL, Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera, would be free to continue playing in the IPL if they don’t make themselves available for the two tours.
The chief selector said the two senior players, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene along with Malinga, would anyway not be considered for the Irish leg of the tour. SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said players can sign tour specific contracts. This is indicative of the unresolved state of the contract dispute.
Players demanded 20 per cent from SLC’s ICC revenue and the dispute threatened Sri Lanka’s chances in the world T20 which they ultimately won.
The SLC came up with a revised formula for player fees and the two sides failed to reach an agreement up to the very last minute before the team could board the flight heading for Bangladesh to play in the world T20.
Although indications had been made that players would agree to a 12.5 per cent from ICC revenue instead of the original demand for 20 per cent, there was no final agreement and contracts remained unsigned.
The bad blood between the players and the administration came out even during the heroes’ welcome accorded to the national team as they returned after winning the World T20. Addressing a televised press conference at the airport, Jayawardene and Sangakkara blamed the officials for causing mental distress to the team just before the tournament.
Day-night Tests stupid: Pietersen
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has slammed the idea of day-night Tests as ‘stupid’, saying the conditions would be too different and the ball would be too affected, meaning a new set of stats would be required.
Pietersen, playing for the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL right now, said that while he had not played with a pink ball, he couldn’t imagine night Test cricket working, and said the ICC would need to make it a whole new format of the game.
Pietersen said in a Q and A organised by the Indian Express: “I have never played with the pink ball. And if they start playing day-night Test cricket, then they have to start new statistics because it’s totally different. You’ve got Brett Lee running in at quarter to ten at night with the second new ball. I mean it’s just stupid.”
He continued: “I don’t know if it’ll work, but I am not a fan of it at all. If they want to play it, then it can be a new form of cricket, but they have to use new statistics for it for sure. If you are going to play day-night Test cricket in Durban, I can’t see a ball spinning when the sun goes down, and the light comes on. I can see the ball seaming. On day five, spinners win you Test matches. But with the lights coming on, it will be seamers who will win you matches on day five. So I am not a fan of it at all.”
Feedback from Australia, where the pink ball has been tried in Sheffield Shield games, has been mixed, but leaning towards the negative, especially relating to the pink ball.
Stokes eyes return in May
All-rounder Ben Stokes’ participation in England’s limited-overs series against Sri Lanka in May remained in the balance this week. Stokes suffered a hand injury after punching a dressing room locker during the third Twenty20 International against the West Indies in Barbados in March.
The fracture saw the New Zealand-born 22-year-old miss the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, where the English endured an early exit on the back of defeat to minnows Holland. “I’m back in the gym trying to get myself fit and it’s good to get myself back on my feet and keeping busy,” Stokes told Sky Sports News.
“There’s no time frame yet on my recovery. It’s a matter of healing still and more of a feeling thing and we’ll see what the specialist says in four weeks’ time.”
The talented Stokes enjoyed a decent Test series debut during the tour of Australia earlier this year, despite England’s five-nil whitewash. He managed 279 runs in eight innings, including a fine ton in Perth, and secured 15 wickets. “It was disappointing but I can look back on it and take away some good personal moments.”
