Horror moment for Sri Lanka cricketers; flight from London made emergency landing in India after fuel loss

Colombo, July 8: Sri Lanka cricket team has been going through turmoil on and off the field. Recently, England hammered them in the white ball series and a contract signing issue has bruised the relation between Sri Lanka Cricket and the players, even though 29 players inked the deal ahead of the ODI and T20I series against India starting on July 13.

But the team went through another horror recently while returning to Sri Lanka from England after the white-ball series. Lanka coach Mickey Arthur said the flight from London had to make an emergency stop in an Indian airport due to fuel loss.

"We had to divert to India because we lost fuel. When I landed in India, I switched my phone on and I had a couple of messages from Wayne Bentley (England's operations manager) who updated on the situation and that was a really nerve-wracking time for all of us," Arthur told talkSPORT.

If that wasn't enough, there have reports that veteran all-rounder Angelo Mathews has been contemplating retirement after he refused to sign the contract. Mathews will not play in the series against India.

"Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that 29 players, out of the 30 members nominated by the Cricket Selectors to be considered for the White-Ball Series against India, have signed the Tour Contract," said the SLC in a statement.

"Angelo Mathews, who was included in the respective 30-member squad, requested Sri Lanka Cricket to relieve him from National Duties, owing to personal reasons, until further notice," the statement read.

The dispute between the SLC and players arose after the latter set felt the plan lacked transparency and the proposed pay would be much lower than the approved scales of the Federation of International Cricket Association (FICA). The players had flown to England for the limited overs tour without signing national contracts.