Sri Lankans training assiduously, but …:

Bouncer from SLC shatters confidence

Elmo Rodrigopulle - Reporting from Australia

With the Sri Lanka cricketers sweating it out assiduously in their endeavour to skin the Australian cricketing Kangaroos in the Boxing Day Test, comes the bouncer that has shattered their confidence. A simple and reasonable request made by Captain Mahela Jayawardene to distribute part of the guarantee fees due to the team for the World Cup Twenty20 to members of the support staff and certain ground staff has been blown out of proportion.

What has upset and annoyed the Captain, the team and the manager is that the Captain and the Manager has been accused of breaching their contracts by directly knowing their views to the media.

What is inexplicable is that a simple matter that could have discussed and sorted out in an amicable manner has been allowed to burn like a bush fire, thus unsettling the team and the management.

Important series

Sri Lanka Cricket should have moved in and acted in a manner not to upset and shatter the confidence when the players who are in the midst of a very important series.

Captain Jayawardene and Manager Senanayake are doing a wonderful job with the support staff, getting the team pumped up for the Boxing Day Test. This was not the time for the SLC to accuse the captain and manager of breach of contract and worse still was to make it public.

The Captain and Manager have been flooded with phone calls from the media and Sri Lankan cricket fans here, which have gone to shatter their confidence ahead of the vital Boxing Day Test. The Sri Lankan and Australian players signed autographs and talked with fans and took part in a question and answer session ahead of the Test on Wednesday at the Queensbridge Square yesterday.

Release from SLC

The following is the release circulated by the SLC Media Manager Rajith Fernando: The Executive Committee turned down a request made by captain of the national team Mahela Jayawardene to distribute part of the guarantee fees due to the team from the World Twenty20 to members of the support staff and certain ground staff. The players are paid 25% of the guarantee fee as per their contract and it is not distributed to anyone other than the players, hence the request 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 explained the process. Thereafter when it was carried in an article in a local newspaper skipper Mahela Jayawardene made his concerns known to the Sri Lanka Cricket Office Bearers.

The release of his views through the manager direct to the media was a breach of their respective contracts on the part of both the captain and the manager and the matter will be taken up for discussion when the Executive Committee next meets.

Melbourne, Sunday