SL board to discuss IPL clash with England tour
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will hold a meeting of its executive board Thursday to discuss its team's tour to England next year that will force its national cricketers to miss a chunk of the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Duleep Mendis, the chief executive of SLC, has said, reports Cricinfo.
The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Tuesday announced the dates for the Sri Lanka tour in 2009, which starts with a warm-up game against Leicestershire on April 21 and ends with the third and final one-day international against England on May 30. Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, has already announced that the second season of the lucrative Twenty20 tournament would be held from April 10-May 29, 2009.
This would mean that Sri Lanka's top 13 cricketers who have been signed by the eight IPL teams, including Mahela Jayawardene, their skipper, and Kumar Sangakkara, their vice-captain, would be available to play for only the first 10 days of the tournament.
"We have to discuss all these issues and we will," Mendis told Cricinfo. "We will sort them out during our executive board meeting tomorrow. The meeting will discuss the England tour dates and the IPL issue."
Asked whether SLC would allow its players to skip a few early matches in England to play in the IPL, Mendis said: "our executive board will have to decide on this."
The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Tuesday announced the dates for the Sri Lanka tour in 2009, which starts with a warm-up game against Leicestershire on April 21 and ends with the third and final one-day international against England on May 30. Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, has already announced that the second season of the lucrative Twenty20 tournament would be held from April 10-May 29, 2009.
This would mean that Sri Lanka's top 13 cricketers who have been signed by the eight IPL teams, including Mahela Jayawardene, their skipper, and Kumar Sangakkara, their vice-captain, would be available to play for only the first 10 days of the tournament.
"We have to discuss all these issues and we will," Mendis told Cricinfo. "We will sort them out during our executive board meeting tomorrow. The meeting will discuss the England tour dates and the IPL issue."
Asked whether SLC would allow its players to skip a few early matches in England to play in the IPL, Mendis said: "our executive board will have to decide on this."