Sri Lanka Cricket is considering slashing players salaries by as much as 40% following the recent disastrous performance in the two match Test series against England, according to a news report in Sunday Island Newspaper.

Although a performance based incentive for players was suggested by Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa recently, the initial suggestion to cut salaries had come within the board, Sunday Island Newspaper reported quoting Cricket sources.

Accordingly, SLC is expected to cut down on annual retainers by almost half. As a result, a top player who had an annual contract worth US$ 120,000, will now only get somewhere in the region of US$ 70,000.

Apart from the retainers, SLC pays a player US$ 7500 for a Test match, US$ 4000 for an ODI and US$ 2000 for a T-20 International. There have been objections within the board to cut down retainers but the board now has little choice following the Sports Ministry directive. A cricket official said that while the board will be cutting down on retainers, they will be doubling up match payments if games are won.