Panesar unlikely to play for Sri Lankan club

Monty Panesar, the England left-arm spinner, is unlikely to play for Bloomfield in Sri Lanka's domestic Premier trophy tournament due to a pay dispute.

Panesar, 26, was due to arrive in Sri Lanka next month and represent Bloomfield, one of the leading clubs in the local tournament, in order to gain experience of playing on subcontinent pitches and conditions ahead of England's tour to India later this year.

However negotiations between Bloomfield and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have not gone ahead as planned and there is a likelihood that Panesar may not turn up at all.

Bloomfield president Upali Dharmadasa said the club cricket committee decided that if Panesar was to play for the club for one month the ECB should compensate them with a fee of at least ₤7500.

"We were going to sacrifice one of our players to accommodate Panesar so we told John Carr, the ECB's director of cricket, to compensate us with something so that the club and the player will benefit," said Dharmadasa.

"Initially they came to us and said they would pay ₤500. We said we were not happy with the figure and we put the matter up to the committee which decided that ₤7500 would be a reasonable amount. However Carr came back to us and said they can pay only ₤1000 which is not acceptable to us," he said.

Dharmadasa said if Panesar was to be accommodated in the team, an experienced left-arm spinner like Shanuka Dissanayake, who captained Bloomfield last season would lose his place for one month.

A media conference hosted by ECB at Cinnamon Grand Hotel on November 3 is unlikely to take place due to the present deadlock.