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28 March 2024

Mahela crosses swords with Lanka board

Sri Lankan cricket captain Mahela Jayawardene is at loggerheads with the board. (FILE)

Published
By Staff/AP

Sri Lanka's cricket authorities say captain Mahela Jaywardene and team manager Charith Senanayake have breached their contracts by publicly complaining that a private memo they sent to the sport's national governing body ended up in a newspaper.

Jayawardene had sent a memo to Sri Lanka Cricket last week suggesting that fees from this year's World Twenty20 tournament should be shared with support staff, coaches and ground staff - a request that was denied.

The memo and response then appeared in the local Daily Mirror newspaper.

Jayawardene was angered that the memo went public and wrote a letter to the newspaper saying he had lost faith in SLC as a result.

SLC said Saturday that Jayawardene and Senanayake should not have contacted the media direct and it will review the matter.

Following is the media release issued by Sri Lanka Cricket Media Manager Rajith Fernando on the issue.
 
"The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket turned down a request made by the Captain of the National Team, Mahela Jayawardena, to distribute part of the guarantee fee due to the team from the World T20, to members of the Support Staff and certain ground staff, at its last meeting held on 12th December.


"The players are paid 25% of the guarantee fee as per their contract and it is not distributed among anyone other than the players, hence the reason for the Executive Committee to refuse to deviate from the standard practice.

"Certain sections of the media contacted the Treasurer to clarify exactly what happened and he had explained this process. Thereafter, when it was carried in an article in a local newspaper, Mahela Jayawardena made his concerns known to the SLC Office Bearers.

"The subsequent release of his views through the Manager, direct to the media is a breach of their respective contracts on the part of both the Captain and the Manager and this matter will be taken up for discussion when the Executive Committee next meets."