Jayawardene’s future in limbo following spat with Sri Lanka board

Sydney: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene’s future has come under doubts after he was embroiled in a spat with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board after breaching his own contract. According to the Age, SLC has claimed Jayawardene and team manager Charith Senanayake have breached their contracts by publicly complaining about the board`s decision to not give a share of the players`` fees from the recent Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka to support staff, coaches and ground staff. Jayawardene sent a private memo to SLC last week arguing for this to done, only for the email, sent via Senanayake, to be leaked and published in Colombo`s Daily Mirror newspaper, it added. Jayawardene, angered that his email had been made public, wrote to the newspaper, declaring he had lost all confidence in SLC as a result and this response was also published, it said.

The paper further reported, SLC, which denied the request on grounds it was not standard practice, claimed on Saturday Jayawardene and Senanayake should not have contacted the newspaper directly and the matter was under investigation. This is unlikely to prevent Jayawardene from playing in the second Test against Australia, beginning on Boxing Day at the MCG, but an alleged breach of contract means he is no certainty to line up in the subsequent Sydney Test should SLC act quickly, the paper added. Jayawardene has already said he will relinquish the captaincy once the tour of Australia is complete, it concluded. ANI