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| Charith Senanayake |
After the Pakistani debacle the Sri Lankan national cricketers will be in for a bonanza as their new yearly contracts will be signed within the next two weeks.
Last year the national cricketers faced a bit of a stick when the Interim Committee led by former chairman Arjuna Ranatunga held on to their contracts citing various issues for more than three months before being coaxed to sign them.
The Lankan contracts were given in three slabs – (All in US dollars) 100,000/-, 60,000/- and 40,000/-. The top category comprised cricketers of the calibre of Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas and Sanath Jayasuriya etc. However this year’s composition is still under scrutiny.
At the same time as the national cricketers all contracts including the contracts offered to fringe players will also be renewed.
Away in Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided to offer a 30% pay hike to their cricketers after their impressive performances lately.
At the same time former Sri Lanka fast bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake who is now employed by the BCB has been given an extension of his contract by another six months and it will run till the end of October when they finish their home assignment against the West Indies.
Like in Sri Lanka, Ramanayake was responsible for unearthing a string of young fast bowlers in Bangladesh.
| Who is Dandeniya? |
Since of late a person by the name of Suraj Dandeniya -- a person with a dubious track record, who claims to be the nephew of the newly appointed IC chairman D.S. de Silva, has assumed duties by force at the SLC.
Dandeniya who has no official capacity at the board is said to be occupying the IC chairman’s room even in his absence and is reported to be pushing his weight around and even reprimanding the SLC employees. An irate SLC employee claimed “Who is this man? What status has he got in here? We really want to know what is going on at the SLC”. |
Meanwhile international sports goods manufacturers Reebok (India) has clinched a four year franchise deal with Sri Lanka Cricket replacing MAS holdings who held it during the past few years.
Sri Lanka Cricket Marketing Manager and former Sri Lanka opening batsman Charith Senanayake confirmed the deal but declined to disclose the amount.
Senanayake said “The only thing that I can divulge is that it is a substantial increase from what MAS holdings who gave us good support for the last few years.”
Continuing on the subject Senanayake elaborated “There were three final bidders for the clothing contract. They were former franchise holders – MAS holdings, Prosport UK with Canterbury and Reebok. Out of the three bidders Prosport came up with the best design but, could not back it up with a good enough monetary back-up.
“Another reason for us to lean towards Reebok seriously was that fact that it is a international acclaimed brand name and we felt that it was high time that out national cricketers were backed by such an international back-up”.
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