“As the players have no contract with SLC at the moment, we cannot select players who don’t confirm their availability. As the way things are at the moment, players can opt out without giving us reasons,” explained Jayasuriya.
This obviously means that Sri Lanka T20 International captain Lasith Malinga who is currently playing in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) will have an extra fortnight with his team Mumbai Indians as he can easily opt out of the Ireland leg of the tour and the warm-up games, and can join the Sri Lanka team for the solitary T20 International on May 20.
The five ODIs will be played from May 22 to June 3, making Malinga miss the crucial final fortnight of the IPL, if he chooses to join Sri Lanka ahead of Mumbai Indians. Thisara Perera is the other Sri Lankan player in the IPL.
Jayasuriya however said that they hope to keep seniors Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Malinga out of the Ireland leg of the tour even if they make themselves available and Angelo Mathews will lead the team as usual. However the chief selector said that another senior hand Tillakaratne Dilshan, who is currently struggling to find form, would be asked to play the two ODIs against Ireland.
Sri Lanka players had started their training yesterday following a break they had since winning the ICC World T20 title.
SLC CEO de Silva said that players can sign their annual contracts any time they like and added that SLC has taken no decision so far to change their position or alter any clauses in the contracts wich had earlier been offered to the players who refused to sign it, demanding a 20 percent share of SLC’s income from ICC events.
He said that players can sign a tour contract and take part in the England tour unless the issue is solved prior to the tour.
Meanwhile, Sangakkara finally informed Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) formally of his retirement from Twenty20 Internationals in an email addressed to chairman of national selectors Jayasuriya last night.
“I write to confirm that I would like to retire from playing Twenty20 International cricket. I believe it is the right time to retire allowing you an opportunity to build a team for the next World Twenty20 and also to allow me to focus on Test and ODI cricket during the coming months,” Sangakkara wrote in the email which had been copied to SLC Chief Executive Ashley de Silva as well.
Earlier last afternoon, Sangakkara told “Daily Mirror” that, “The board, I am sure will issue a press release on it when they deem it fit and proper,” in response to question why SLC only announced Mahela Jayawardene’s retirement officially and not his. It was common knowledge that both players had played the last T20 internationals of their chequered careers at the ICC World T20 final against India on April 6.
Then at 6.35 p.m., approximately 15 minutes prior to sending his official retirement mail to the two SLC officials, Sangakkara told “Daily Mirror” that, “I cannot give you a quote directly on this but I am sure they will inform the press,” in response to a question if it can be taken that he had informed SLC formally of the retirement.
Sangakkara had earlier in March told a Sri Lankan newspaper prior to leaving for ICC World T20 in Bangladesh, that he would retire from T20 internationals after the tournament.
A few days later another Sri Lanka stalwart Jayawardene also told media in Bangladesh about his retirement from the shortest format of the international game, which later snowballed into a major controversy after Jayasuriya expressed his disappointment to “Daily Mirror” over the two seniors going public with their biggest career decision prior to informing the national selectors.
It escalated a further notch when Jayawardene tweeted his disappointment over the article alleging that it affected his morale before the challenge for the world title began, while the controversy reached a peak when the former captain named SLC Secretary and Chief Executive as responsible for criticising them unnecessarily. Jayawardene who addressed a packed media conference at the Colombo Airport on April 8 when the world champion team arrived home after their triumphant campaign in Bangladesh, claimed they did not announce the retirement, despite all international and local media being abuzz with the retirement story.
It was the biggest sports story in Sri Lanka on March 17, and “Daily Mirror” story only recorded the reaction of home officials on the following day.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar