Sri Lankan trio reconfirm County contracts

Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas and Upul Chandana have had their county contracts reconfirmed by Somerset, Worcestshire and Gloucestshire after the postponement of Sri Lanka's five-match ODI tour to India, according to The Island newspaper.

When Sri Lanka suddenly announced their intention to tour India for five ODIs in March the trio's county contracts had been thrown into doubt. Both Jayasuriya and Vaas had been contracted only for a short periods and their possible unavailability for a large chunk of that time meant the counties could have been forced to look for alternatives.

However, the current crisis with Sri Lanka's cricket board, which has effectively paralysed the administration, led to India's cricket board announcing indefinite postponement of the series. According to Indian news reports, India's senior players had also been reluctant to play the tour so soon after an arduous Pakistan series.

The Sri Lanka trio will spend just 24 hours in Sri Lanka after the New Zealand tour before flying to England on April 18. Sri Lanka's next scheduled international series is against West Indies in mid-July but the new interim cricket board are looking at possible alternative dates for the India series in June or early July.