Sri Lanka cricket captain Mahela Jayawardene said that Sri Lankan cricketers will not take part in the forthcoming Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL), an Indian Premier League (IPL) style T20 tournament, unless the country’s cash strapped governing body Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) signs the annual Central contract with the cricketers.

“We will only sign SLPL contracts once the central contracts of Sri Lanka players are settled” Jayawardene told a packed media conference held today in Colombo to launch the tournament.

SLC is yet to sign the contracts with the players for the year 2012 and players have not been paid their salaries for the first quarter of this year due to the contract issue which has been dragging on, but has not been settled for more than four months.

The debt ridden SLC has been in a crippling financial struggle since hosting last year’s ICC world Cup as the three venues developed for the event has reportedly cost more than a whopping Rs. seven billion.

The SLPL tournament is to begin in less than a month on August 10 and is scheduled to run till August 31.