Sri Lanka Cricket crisis ends

Sri Lanka's chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya held a special discussion with the locked out top cricket players Sunday evening to resolve the deepening crisis and following the discussion all national players have agreed to sign the annual contract, local media reports said.

Jayasuriya as a personal attempt to break the deadlock between the national players and the cricket administration met with the players today after the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Upali Dharmadasa refused to have any more discussions with the players and the Sports Minister ordered to pick a debutant team to play against touring Bangladesh team.

The cricket board has given the players an ultimatum to sign their annual contracts by Sunday morning or else they will not be playing in any international cricket including the Bangladesh tour series that is to start today.

A meeting between the SLC administrators and 23 top national players on Saturday ended unsuccessfully with both sides sticking to their guns.

The edict affected former captain Kumar Sangakkara immediately who was scheduled to play at the first warm-up match with Bangladesh staring today.

The new Captain Angelo Mathews and T20Captain Dinesh Chandimal are yet to play in their roles since their appointments last month.

The SLC barred the players who will not sign the contract by Sunday from its facilities and services.
About 60 national players have refused to sign the SLC's annual contract for this year demanding the SLC to pay them 25% of the board's earnings from ICC events.

The SLC has been paying the players the 25% fee since 2003 but this year the cash strapped SLC has dropped that from the annual contract saying that Sri Lanka's national players are well paid and with the new contract 67% of the board's income will be used to pay players.

The selection panel headed by Jayasuriya was to pick the team Sunday for the first Test match against Bangladesh starting March 8.

 All national cricketers have agreed to sign the contract with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) after a lengthy meeting tonight at SLC headquarters, National Chief Selector Sanath Jayasuriya said.

How ever players were refused to comment regarding the issue.