No threat of players' boycott on contract issue: SLC

Colombo, Jul 9 (PTI) Sri Lanka Cricket Wednesday ruled out the possibility of its players boycotting the home series against India because of a contract dispute, even though the board convened an urgent meeting Thursday to sort out thevexed issue.

"We will be holding a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) with the Sri Lankan Cricketers Association (S.L.C.A.) and we are confident that the issue will be sorted out and a decisionwill emerge by Friday," a top S.L.C. official told PTI.

"There is no threat of senior Sri Lankan players not playing against India in the Test and One Day matches and we are hopeful that the contract issue will be sorted outamicably," the official said.

According to reports, the Sri Lankan players have not been paid during the last few months. The senior cricketers have reportedly agreed to a freeze on their central contract fees but demanded junior members of the national squad and theA team be given substantial wage increases.

Last year, junior players received around USD 20,000 a year as a retainer, the lowest annual contract fees of allTest playing nations, it said.

The 'Daily Mirror' quoted an anonymous player as saying that they could have boycotted the Asia Cup as well, whichthey did not.

"We could have boycotted the Asia Cup but we wanted to prove a point. Now everyone knows who the wrong-doers are,"the cricketer was quoted as saying.

Annual player contracts were to be finalised by March 31but three months have gone by.

Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan are among the top rated players in the annual contract list. PTI TVS