Sri Lanka players may be paid after Pakistan series

Upali Dharmadasa, the chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket's interim committee, has said he is hopeful that his country's national cricketers will be paid their salaries when they return home after the series against Pakistan currently being played in the UAE. SLC is expecting to receive the remaining payments of around US$ 4.3 million from the ICC for hosting the 2011 World Cup shortly.

"We are awaiting the money from the ICC soon after they have finalized their audit of the World Cup which we believe have been completed," Dharmadasa told ESPNcricinfo.

Dharmadasa stated that SLC requires around 32 million Sri Lankan rupees (approx $290,540) a month to pay the salaries of its 230 employees and 100 contracted cricketers. He admitted to BBC Sinhala that the national cricketers had not been paid their salaries since the World Cup which ended in April because of SLC exceeded their budget building cricket stadiums for the tournament.

Dharmadasa was critical of the previous interim committee, headed by former Sri Lanka leg-spinner DS de Silva, for spending SLC money expansively to build a new stadium at Hambantota, renovating the Pallakele Stadium in Kandy and the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo for the World Cup.

"We are struggling financially today because of such unnecessary expenditure," Dharmadasa said.