Sri Lankan cricketers have rejected pay cuts and are refusing to sign new contracts with the board after their payments are cut down by as may as 40 percent, a lawyer representing them said Friday. Moreover, the squad is held at ‘gunpoint’ are particularly angry at the role played by former Australia star Tom Moody who is part of a national board panel that proposed the new contracts.

Former Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews and Test skipper Dimuth Karunaratne were given the biggest pay cuts and dropped the side which is in Bangladesh currently. Mathews’ annual fee fell from $130,000 a year to $80,000 while Karunaratne was offered $70,000, a drop of $30,000. Minus the two star players and with the showdown growing, the team are in Bangladesh preparing for three one-day internationals starting Sunday.

Nishan Premathiratne, the lawyer who is representing the contingent of 24 players said “the players are not in agreement to sign unfair and non-transparent contracts and urge Sri Lanka Cricket to not hold the players at gunpoint”.

A national player told AFP that the board had violated confidentiality by publicly disclosing the squad’s proposed salaries.

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Sri Lankan Cricketers Deny Pay Cuts

“We are more worried about the criteria adopted by the board in deciding the new scheme,” said the player, who did not want to be named. “They have published our pay. They must publish what is paid to Moody and the coach and other officials so people can decide if what is paid to us is reasonable.”

Sri Lanka Cricket said players could earn more under the new performance-based pay scheme formulated with the help of former skipper Aravinda de Silva and Tom Moody.

The Australian was hired in March as the Sri Lankan board’s director of cricket to prepare the team for the next World Cup. Moody told reporters on Wednesday that the panel had studied pay structures in other nations before coming up with its scheme.

Sri Lanka cricketers Dhananjaya de Silva and wicket-keeper Niroshan Dikwella are being paid the most among all the 24 players who are under the new contract. However, according to their lawyer both the players rejected the deal. The Sri Lankan team are lined up to play a limited-overs series against India in July after their series against Bangladesh.

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