SL cricketers agree to tour England without contracts

Colombo, June 8 : Sri Lanka cricketers have agreed to tour England without contracts after the country's cricket board agreed to bring transparency to players' evaluation that eventually decides categories of contract.

Sri Lanka cricketers had been complaining that the methodology used for calculating contracts was not transparent.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), however, said it will reveal the details of how it evaluates players and issues them contracts.

"This is the transparency the players had been requesting from the outset. They will play this tour without signing any contract. They have signed a voluntary declaration, but there is nothing there about player remuneration. They have always been committed to playing for Sri Lanka," Nishan Premathiratne, players' lawyer, was quoted as saying by espncricinfo.com.

Last week, 38 Sri Lankan cricketers had refused to sign contracts as they complained about lack of transparency in the ratings system devised by SLC.

However, with the issue sorted now, the team will depart for England on June 9 as per schedule.

Sri Lanka are scheduled to play the first of the three T20Is against England June 23. The three-match ODI series will begin on June 29. Besides, they are to play two tour matches, against Kent and Sussex.