Colombo, Aug 20 (IANS): Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Friday announced that 18 players have signed national contracts, which have been drawn up without any deviation from the clauses mentioned earlier and protested by cricketers. The contracts will be valid for five months.

"Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that 18 players signed the National Player Contracts, which came into effect from 1st August 2021," said Sri Lanka Cricket in a statement.

"The new contract will be for a five-month period and will end on the 31st December 2021," it added.

"The players signed the contracts without any deviation from the contracts offered previously, which was formulated by Sri Lanka Cricket along with the Technical Advisory Committee," it said further.

Angelo Mathews, who was among the players offered a contract was not considered, as he is currently unavailable for selection, while Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis are currently serving a ban and were also not included.

Isuru Udana has retired from international cricket and therefore wasn't considered.

Sri Lankan players' failure to sign contracts had become a big concern recently, putting Sri Lanka's limited-overs tour of England in May-June in jeopardy. The players had initially protested as they couldn't understand the methodology adopted for awarding contracts.

SL players awarded national contracts: Dhananjaya De Silva, Kusal Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Suranga Lakmal, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lasith Embuldeniya, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal, Lakshan Sandakan, Vishwa Fernando, Oshada Fernando, Ramesh Mendis, Lahiru Kumara, Ashen Bandara, Akila Dananjaya.