Sri Lanka board drops Jayasuriya from contract list

COLOMBO, April 11: Sri Lanka Cricket have virtually shut the door on the continuation of Sanath Jayasuriya's international career by dropping him from the list of contracted players for next year. Daily Mirror newspaper quoted selection committee sources as saying that they have "decided to drop the veteran all-rounder from a list of players to be contracted for next year". The 38-year old master-blaster, who retired last year from Test cricket, has represented Sri Lanka in 110 Tests and 411 One-Day Internationals and was dropped for the ongoing tour of West Indies due to poor form.
"Jayasuriya will only be offered tour contracts if he is selected", selection committee sources said. "Only four 'A' grade players such as Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas have been picked for next year," sources said. Jayasuriya is one of the highest paid cricketers in Sri Lanka, currently earning around $100,000 per year. The interim committee of SLC will take up the contracts for final approval after head Arjuna Ranatunga returns from a private tour overseas.
"We will offer the player contracts after the interim committee approves the list. There are a few issues still to be discussed such as the amount of money offered for each contract category and the composition of players in each category," SLC chief executive officer Duleep Mendis said. The ageing Jayasuriya became the third highest paid player of the Indian Premier League when he was sold for a whopping $975,000 at a players' auction earlier this year.