Sri Lankan board richer by US $9.17 million

One can quite understand why there is so much fierce competition to administer cricket in Sri Lanka. In the next six months, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) coffers will be boosted by as much as US $ 9.17 million when they participate in two ICC tournaments.

The SLC is set to receive one million dollars as participation allowance (formerly known as guarantee fees) for next month's Champions Trophy in India. For next year's World Cup in the Caribbean, they will benefit to the tune of an additional $8.17 million. SLC sources told The Nation that 25 percent of this figure will be paid to the cricketers, 25 percent utilised for SLC expenses and the balance used for cricket development.

Meanwhile, newly appointed secretary of the SLC interim committee M Mathivanan said that from the 2006-07 domestic season, cricketers of the 14 division one-clubs playing in the Premier League (Segment A) and limited-overs tournaments will receive a 300 percent pay hike.

"A player can earn upto between Rs. 127,000 to Rs. 140,000 a season playing in these two competitions," said Mathivanan. "This is in comparison to the Rs. 40,000-Rs. 50,000 they have been getting in the past. As the clubs have been reduced from 20 to 14 we are able to give this increase. We have done this to ensure that there is more quality and competition in the tournament. We want to make it as professional as possible."

With a personnel of close to 40 cricketers working for him at East West Marketing, Mathivanan revealed that only around 40 percent of the 210 players who are playing in the Premier division are employed. The rest, he said, depended largely on the income they derive from the clubs they represent and the league cricket they play in England. With the SLC having plans to prune down the number of clubs playing in the Premier division further to ten for the 2007-08 season, an increase in payments for the players is on the cards, he added.

The groupings for the 2006-07 Premier League season, which commences on November 10, are:

Segment A: (Group A): SSC, Ragama CC, Bloomfield, BRC, NCC, Panadura SC, Saracens. (Group B): Chilaw Marians, Colts, CCC, Tamil Union, Moors SC, Badureliya CC, Sebastianites.

Segment B: Galle CC, Singha SC, Police SC, Kurunegala YCC, Air Force, Lankan CC, Army SC.

The bottom five clubs from Segment A will be demoted to play in Segment B, while the Segment B winner will be promoted to Segment A for the 2007-08 season. The 2006-07 season commences with the Premier one-day limited-overs tournament on November 1. Matches will be played every Wednesday of the week.