SLC looks to tighten up on player-media interaction

Sri Lanka Cricket is set to tighten up on players' interaction with the media. From now on, Sri Lanka players will have to obtain prior permission from SLC CEO Ajith Jayasekera before speaking with any media personnel. A letter to this effect is to be drafted by Jayasekera, in consultation with SLC lawyer Harsha Amarasekera, and sent to all the contracted players.

A spokesman for SLC said that this regulation may also be included as a clause in the players' contracts. The players are expected to sign their new contracts before the start of the series against Pakistan, which begins on June 1.

The executive committee of SLC had also decided to write a "mild" letter to former captain Kumar Sangakkara, regarding an interview he had given to a newspaper, "reminding him of his obligations" and stressing "that such actions will not be tolerated in future". Sangakkara had previously come under the scrutiny of the cricket administration in Sri Lanka, when he had delivered the MCC's Spirit of Cricket Lecture in England, in which he has said that the establishment was run by "partisan cronies".

The SLC, meanwhile, it is understood, has to pay the players the remainder of their outstanding salaries, along with the dues from the Commonwealth Bank Series (played in Australia in February-March) and the Asia Cup (played in Bangladesh in March).