Cricket’s flawed contracts

Although there’s been much hype about the new contracts national players are supposed to sign with a lot of stress on fitness, The Island learns that the contracts in fact are flawed with loopholes which can be manipulated by interested parties. 

It has been brought to our notice that a certain clause in the contracts says that a player can be exempted from fitness tests if the selectors think so.  

The clause it is said has been included to benefit a former fast bowler who had a disastrous stint as national captain. Reputed  to have employed mean tactics to get the captaincy, the fast bowler received little support from the team and was eventually removed. However, with the top brass of the national cricket team including skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and former captain Angelo Mathews axed from the ODI side, path has been created for the misfiring fast bowler to make a return to the side and possibly even captain again. 

The fast bowler who has never compiled with required fitness standards would struggle to meet the current minimum requirements. The two kilometer run which players need to finish inside eight minutes and 30 seconds has made several established players ineligible for selections. However, the fast bowler is expected to get an exception thanks to the controversial clause. 

The fast bowler’s Bombay don is said to be the mastermind of the flawed contract.

Senior players are up in arms and they want the clause dropped from the contracts. 

Certain senior players are also contemplating retirement or not to sign  contracts but remain available for national selections.  

All-rounder Thisara Perera became the first casualty of the stand off between the administration and players and has announced his retirement. 

Sri Lanka’s performances in recent years, particularly in white ball cricket, has not been up to scratch and drastic changes being done to address the poor performances has been welcomed. Dilruwan Perera, a veteran Test cricketer, would have gone on the tour of the West Indies and played the home Tests against Bangladesh but he failed a fitness test. No leniency was shown to him whatsoever despite him being 38. However, the existence of this particular clause that minimum fitness standards are not mandatory is cause for serious concern.  Charlie Austin seems to be running cricket in the country again through his proxies.