Connect with us

Sports

Pay disputes aren’t new but are they reasonable?   

Published

5 years ago

on

by Rex Clementine  

Pay disputes go back to the times of Bandula Warnapura, our first Test captain. But he was an absolute beauty. He is more of a working-class hero. There was a bit of Ian Chappell in him. He fought for his players. Not for seniority payment or anything.  

Sri Lanka Cricket at times have cut down pay for players significantly just to rein them in. There have been Sri Lankan teams in the past that have refused to sign contracts, but gone on tour, won the championship and then demanded the pound of flesh, which in a way is fair enough.  

So if Kusal Perera’s side beats England, the world’s number one ranked team, in the upcoming series, the cricket-loving public will not mind even if the players are paid triple the bonus they have been promised.  

But what is happening right now is bizarre. The players have said that they are willing to play free as long as their employers show them the formula with which the annual contracts were formulated. Surely, there has to be a better reason than that for you to go on war path with your employers. Mind you players have been warned with three years suspension from all forms of cricket which is quite serious.  

Past greats have taken on the board for reasons other than pay. There have been instances when some players have pulled out of tours when their colleagues have been unceremoniously axed from the side. Can’t remember anyone from the current side standing moral high ground when cricket’s beauty was butchered. Then, why suddenly show yourself as a paragon of virtue wanting to know the mechanism the contracts were formed on.  

Of course, the seniors have been made to go through pay cuts. Some of them will lose at least US$ 50,000. But that seems their least concern. If the mechanism is indeed your issue, did you have to put through such a drama where you even refused to sign a tour declaration?  So virtually, there’s more to it than players wanting clarity about how players were categorized into contracts. 

We aren’t saying that the contracts offered to the players are without loopholes. Take the case of Niroshan Dickwella for example. He had not featured in an ODI for more than two years but ended up on a topmost contract. Then there is Kasun Rajitha who played just two games across all formats of the game and ends up with a C1 contract.  

SLC has said that the pandemic has forced it to suffer major financial losses and pay cuts are inevitable. However, none of the top executives of the board have taken pay cuts.  

As Director of Cricket Tom Moody tried to explain it is far better to stick to a performance-based payment structure than doling out money on a seniority basis. It is certainly unfair on some of the players who have represented the country for over a decade now but sadly, the team’s performance has been so poor that our global rankings have hit rock bottom in recent times.  

The system needed a shake-up and the players a huge wake-up call to get their act together. Cricket is something that we Sri Lankans love so dearly and the game can not suffer more setbacks. Professional sportsmen cannot finish two kilometers in eight and half minutes while others can’t give up chocolates. True that someone like Arjuna Ranatunga would have never survived the current fitness regime. But do keep in mind that he never let his performances drop. He was one of the fiercest competitors on the cricket field.   

Also, there’s a hue and cry about the salary of Tom Moody. It is said that the Director of Cricket is paid a princely sum of US$ 1900 daily. People have little clue that Bangladesh’s spin bowling coach is paid US$ 1500 daily. The common man on the streets just wants one thing now that is to fix the current cricket mess. Hopefully, we will come out of it sooner.  


Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest News

Amelia Kerr hits 139-ball 179* as New Zealand pull off record chase to level series

Published

12 hours ago

on

2026/04/1

By

Amelia Kerr ended with 179 not out off just 139 balls [Cricinfo]

It was the Amelia Kerr show at Basin Reserve on Wednesday as she played the sort of innings that would go into cricket folklore if it were played at a World Cup instead of a bilateral series, to completely hog the limelight in a match with three other knocks of note and a total of 696 runs in 99.4 overs. Amelia scored 179 not out in 139 balls. And as New Zealand crossed South Africa’s 346 with two balls left, it became the highest successful chase  in women’s ODI history.

The result hardly seemed like when New Zealand, faced with a chase of 347, lost Suzie Bates in the fifth over, bowled by Ayabonga Khaka. Amelia settled in fast, but by the midway stage, New Zealand were four down, Kayla Reyneke striking twice and Sune Luus once as Georgia Plimmer, Maddy Green and Brooke Halliday all fell without making a significant contribution.

Amelia finally found the partner she needed in Isabella Gaze, the wicketkeeper-batter at No. 6. Together, the two of them 120 runs in 82 balls, Amelia scoring 47 of those runs in 34 balls to Gaze’s enterprising 68 in 48, studded with 11 fours.

By the time Gaze fell, becoming the first of two wickets in the game for Masabata Klaas, New Zealand had bounced right back and were in with a strong sniff. Amelia, by then on 113 off 97 balls, looked in the mood.

And then, with the lower-order batters for company, Amelia did what she had to: speed up. She scored a-run-a-ball 23 in a 40-run stand with Izzy Sharp, then 25 in 12 balls with her sister Jess, Rosemary Mair came and went, and then Amelia finished the job in the company of debutant Kayley Knight with two balls left. Amelia had reached her century – her fifth in ODIs, which includes a double-century – off 90 balls, and the 79 she scored after that came off just 49 more.

Earlier, South Africa would have felt happy with their performance with the bat after New Zealand had won the toss and asked them to bat, having lost the first game batting first, though not out of choice.

New Zealand struck early, removing Tazmin Brits in the eighth over, but then had to wait till the 28th before they got lucky again. In between, Laura Wolvaardt (69 in 74 balls) and Anneke Bosch (91 in 90) had added 132 runs in 124 balls, and South Africa were clearly on top.

South Africa continued to get strong partnerships with many of their batters settling in and showing form: 44 between Bosch and Luus (40), 34 between Luus and Sinalo Jafta (37), 40 between Jafta and Chloe Tryon (52*), 36 in just 18 balls between Tryon and Nadine de Klerk (18), and 25 in 12 balls for the unbroken seventh wicket between Tryon and Reyneke (9*). All of that added up to a very healthy total despite Bree Illing’s 3 for 60 and Knight’s 2 for 65, and South Africa would have expected the finish the night with the series in the bag, till Amelia decided otherwise.

Brief scores:
New Zealand Women 350 for 8 in 49.4 overs  (Amelia Kerr 179*, Isabella Gaze 68; Ayabonga Khaka 3-51, Kayla Reyneke 2-54, Masabata  Klaas 2-61) beat South Africa Women  346 for 6 (Anneke Bosch 91, Laura Wolvaardt 69, Chloe Tryon 52*, Sune Luus 40; Bree  Illing 3-60, Kaylee Knight 2-65) by two wickets

[Cricinfo]

Continue Reading

Sports

Punjab Kings fined for slow over-rate

Published

16 hours ago

on

2026/04/1

By

Shreyas Iyer has been fined for Punjab Kings’ slow over-rate against Gujarat Titans  on Tuesday. This being PBKS’ first such offence of the season, Iyer was fined INR 12 lakh.

Continue Reading

Latest News

Ice-cool Connolly leads nervy Punjab Kings home on IPL debut

Published

16 hours ago

on

2026/04/1

By

Cooper Connolly was the Player of the Match on his IPL debut [Cricinfo]

Punjab Kings 165 for 7 in 19.1 overs (Cooper Connolly 72*, Prabhsimran Singh 37, Shreyas Iyer 18, Xavier Bartlett 11*; Kagsio Rabada 1-13, Ashok Sharma 1-31, Rashid Khan 1-29, Washington Sundar 1-27, Prasidh Krishna 3-29) beat Gujarat Titans 162 for 6 in 20 overs  (Sai Sudarshan 13, Shubman Gill 39, Joss Buttler 38, Glenn Phillips 25, Washington Sundar 18, Rahul Tewatia 11*; Marco Jansen 1-20, Vijayakumar Vyshak 3-34, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-28) by three wickets

Gujarat Titans (GT) stopped Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their tracks but could not stop them from going over the finish line in New Chandigarh. Cooper Connolly steered the hosts home in a chase that began authoritatively before taking nervy turns.

Prabhsimran Singh led the initial charge alongside Connolly before Prasidh Krishna initiated a collapse that derailed the chase. But with help from Marco Jansen and Xavier Bartlett, Connolly took PBKS home with five balls to spare.

GT had a sub-par outing with the bat, with three of their top four getting off to good starts but none of them capitalising. Yuzvendra Chahal was back to his best, taking out Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler, who top-scored with 39 and 38 respectively.

PBKS’ bowlers conceded 14 extras, 11 of which were wides, four of them coming in the final over by Arshdeep Singh. Perhaps the more relevant stat separating the teams was that GT hit three sixes in their innings and PBKS as many as 14.

Chahal came on with GT well set on 65 for 1 off 7 overs. He bowled slow, and varied his lines against Gill to dismiss him fourth time in the IPL. This time, it was a slog sweep that carried to deep midwicket.

There were a couple of near-chances in the 11th over, one a caught-and-bowled chance off Buttler and then one off Glenn Phillips, who hit an airy four that went just wide of Shreyas Iyer at cover. Chahal returned in the 16th, after a three-over break, with Buttler batting on 38 off 30 and itching for runs. Two dots later, Buttler looked to clear long-on but Bartlett used his height and reach to take an excellent high catch.

Vijaykumar Vyshak bowled across phases and found success later in the innings. Buttler and Gill took him on initially, hitting two fours and a six in his first two overs, the sixth and eighth of the GT innings. He came back and got Glenn Phillips to hole out to long-off in the 14th.

He saved the best for the death, bowling slower balls, either into the pitch or pitched right up. The first variant got Washington Sundar caught, cutting to deep point, and the latter had Shahrukh Khan slogging to deep square leg.

The pitch seemed flat early on as Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Buttler started with a flurry of fours. Nine in the first six overs, in fact. There were drives, pulls and flicks, and a gorgeous back-foot punch by Buttler off Vyshak.

The slowdown came in the middle overs, which saw GT make 77 for 3. Buttler faced 14 dots in his 33-ball 38, Gill, having rocketed to 27 off 15, made just 12 off his last 12 balls.

Phillips got off to a promising start on GT debut, hitting Chahal for a six and a four within his first eight balls at the crease. He missed out on a couple of boundaries because of Marco Jansen’s fielding at long-off. In the end, three of the top-four batters got to 25 but none went past 39.

After Kagiso Rabada dismissed Priyansh Arya cheaply, Connolly and Prabhsimran took him on: they hit three sixes in the fourth over, the same as GT’s innings tally.

Connolly then used Ashok Sharma’s pace to carve a length ball over cover point. He then hit two sixes off successive Rashid overs while Prabhsimran did the same off Washington Sundar.

However, Prabhsimran couldn’t get going against Rashid. He faced eight balls and scored just two before charging the legspinner and finding Prasidh at long-on. PBKS were 83 for 1 in the tenth over.

The momentum didn’t flag with that wicket, as Shreyas hit sixes off back-to-back short balls from Ashok. But out of nowhere, Prasidh dismissed the PBKS captain, who chipped a half-volley straight to deep midwicket.

This brought about a burst of T20-style wickets where the field mattered more than the quality of the ball. Nehal Wadhera cut a shortish slower ball straight to cover. Shashank Singh, looking to run the ball to deep third, nicked to the keeper off Prasidh. Marcus Stoinis, off Prasidh again, carved a shortish ball to deep third. PBKS had lost four wickets in the space of 16 balls for eight runs.

At 121 for 6, with PBKS needing 42 off 30, the game was flipping. But Connolly was ice-cool against Rabada. He punished two short balls to bookend the 16th over, the first cut over backward point for four to bring up his fifty and the last one pulled over square leg for six.

The pressure was eased at the other end as Jansen and Bartlett pulled Prasidh for sixes in the 17th and 19th overs respectively. That was where PBKS effectively sealed the game.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 165 for 7 in 19.1 overs (Cooper Connolly 72*, Prabhsimran Singh 37, Shreyas Iyer 18, Xavier Bartlett 11*; Kagsio Rabada 1-13, Ashok Sharma 1-31, Rashid Khan 1-29, Washington Sundar 1-27, Prasidh Krishna 3-29) beat Gujarat Titans 162 for 6 in 20 overs  (Sai Sudarshan 13, Shubman Gill 39, Joss Buttler 38, Glenn Phillips 25, Washington Sundar 18, Rahul Tewatia 11*; Marco Jansen 1-20, Vijayakumar Vyshak 3-34, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-28) by three wickets

[Cricinfo]

Continue Reading

Trending