da doce： The Sri Lankan cricket board (BCCSL) has agreed to provide its players with performance incentives during next month’s Cricket World Cup in South Africa
Saadi Thawfeeq15-Jan-2003The Sri Lankan cricket board (BCCSL) has agreed to provide its players with performance incentives during next month’s Cricket World Cup in South Africa.The BCCSL is offering US$ 100,000 for Sanath Jayasuriya’s team to win theWorld Cup in addition to earning as much as approximately US$ 20,000 perplayer if they reach the final.A BCCSL spokesman said that the incentives will increase with each stagethe team makes in the World Cup beginning from the five Pool matches andgoing through to the Super Sixes, the semi-finals and the final.The BCCSL has also doubled the players’ match fee from US$700 to US$1400for the World Cup and also paying the team a sum of US$150,000 to offsetany infringement of their advertising rights.The BCCSL earlier turned down a demand from the Cricketers’ Association foradditional payments for the players to offset any losses they may incur onany advertising rights during the World Cup.The BCCSL was of the opinion that the players will be duly compensated onlyon performance. At the time the demand was made the Sri Lankan team wasgoing through a lean patch having lost 4-1 to South Africa and the firstthree matches of the on-going Victoria Bitter one-day triangular againstAustralia and England.Since the tournament resumed after the New Year, the Sri Lankan team’sfortunes have reversed and they have recorded successive victories overAustralia and England to be in contention for a place in the three-matchfinals.BCCSL sources said that the players’ demands for an increased payments havebeen tied up with performance.The International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned advertising on productsby players which clash with those the World Cup tournament is being sponsored.A similar situation arose during the ICC Champions trophy tournament heldin Colombo in September last year. On that occasion the BCCSL paid theplayers 18 percent of the guarantee fee paid to them by the ICC.Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996 under the captaincy of ArjunaRanataunga when it was hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but failedto retain the title three years later when it was held in England.Sri Lanka are in Group B of the 2003 World Cup with hosts South Africa, NewZealand, West Indies, Kenya and Canada.The tournament kicks off on February 8 with the final scheduled for March23. Sri Lanka open their campaign on February 10 against New Zealand.