SLPL out; what’s next?
As a concept the Sri Lanka Premier League T-20 tournament which was orbited with fanfare and crash-landed a year later is seemingly over.
The transit T-20 tournament which comprises four namesake outfits to choose the team that represents Lanka at the Champions League T20 got off the ground in a miniature scale at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, yesterday.
Then what about the SLPL itself? Is SLC bound to drop it?
SLC’s SLPL tournament Director Ajit Jayasekera says the fallen giant will get up once again in new clothing.
Explaining the present situation Jayasekera said, “As a concept it is not over, though the Sri Lanka Premier League tournament was not played this year.
“Now we are looking at the whole concept in a different perspective and are in the stage of exchanging ideas. Definitely the original format is not plausible and we are looking at a different way of conducting it.”
Earlier the SLC executive committee in a statement said: “Sri Lanka Cricket regrets to announce that the SLPL 2013 … will not take place due to the fact that the franchisees have failed to pay the franchise consideration for this year and more importantly have failed to deposit with SLC the bank guarantees to secure the player payments.”
Uva Next did not know what was happening next and SLC did not know what was going to happen next.
The SLC barred the franchises from taking part in the players’ draft after they missed two deadlines to provide bank guarantees for player payments.
Jayasekera said with the failed concept cast aside now they have ample time to derive a new system that would guarantee the player payment and the other allied financial commitments. Jayasekera also added, “With the new concept coming in, it may not be even called the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL). However we will be still working with the Somerset Group, the foreign promoters of the SLPL.
It also may be recalled that that Uva Next, which won the SLPL last year, had a gruelling time in their bid to take part in the Champions trophy tournament in India, as the franchise holder failed to back them on that bid.
However, the discontentment about the Lankan cricket still remains among the insiders who are earnestly interested in the wellbeing of the game and its structure.
An insider who preferred to remain behind the curtain lamented “Yes, we do have a good club system that has stood the test of time and the club cricket system will continue to prevail. However, the only drawback is that at present there are too many clubs playing in the top division and the whole concept is diluted. Most of the Premier League four-day matches that are played finish sometimes in just two days or less. This means the quality of the tournament is at stake.
“What we really need is a tournament that is played above the club system and that should have a very few teams taking part.However, it must not be like the present pseudo Provincial Tournament which is being concocted. In this tournament players born and played their entire early cricket in the South are playing in the Kandurata team and most of the players do not belong to that team inside. Clubs are established and there is a sense of belonging, but there are too many clubs in the fray. If we are to take the Lankan cricket into the next level where it produces international class cricketers the hierarchy must put their heads together and derive a good system that really works for Sri Lankan cricket”.
He also pointed out about the newly concocted T-20 tournament. He said that if the Ruhuna Reds team wins the tournament and is selected to travel to take part in the Champions League T-20 tournament, there would be a problem. Firstly coach/manager Romesh Kaluwitharana and asst. coach Champaka Ramanayake are in charge of the ‘A’ team players. In September when the winners of the Lankan T-20 team are to take part in the Champions League T20, the New Zealand ‘A’ team will be in Sri Lanka for a series of matches.Besides the officials, there are a host of players like Jehan Mubarak, Niroshan Dickwella, Angelo Perera, Dilruwan Perera, Seekuge Prasanna, Ishan Jayaratne, Thilina Thushara and Farveez Maharoof who will miss a chance of taking part in quality long duration international exposure. He said he cannot understand the real priorities of the Lankan cricket hierarchy.
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