Sri Lanka players sign new contracts to end dispute

Eighteen Sri Lanka cricketers have signed new national team contracts until the end of the year, ending a player-board dispute, the country's cricket board said on Friday.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) rolled out new contracts in May offering lower base salaries and more performance-based incentives which the players rejected, calling them "unfair and non-transparent".

However, they went ahead with tours of Bangladesh and England and also played a home series against India while the dispute lingered.

"The players signed the contracts without any deviation from the contracts offered previously..." the SLC said in a statement.

Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that 18 players signed the National Player Contracts, which came into effect from 01st August 2021.

The new contract will be for a 05 month period and will end on the 31st December 2021.
READ: https://t.co/2Xb8J8V0XX

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) August 20, 2021

Ex-skipper Angelo Mathews is taking an indefinite break from national duty, while Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis are serving one-year bans from international cricket for breaching bio-bubble protocols during the England tour.

Sri Lanka will host three one-dayers and three Twenty20 matches against South Africa next month.