Cricket: Sri Lanka Premier League T20 to be revived

The once aborted Sri Lanka Premier League T-20 tournament will be revived and will take top billing in the local cricket calendar when Sri Lanka Cricket reorganises its tournament structure from the 2016/17 seasons.

An SLC insider said, “Yes, we are exploring the possibilities of reviving this tournament and at the moment we are looking for franchises to back this process.”

He said the SLC would restructure the entire tournament and would be taking the first step towards that direction following the Avurudu break. 

“We will put our heads together and look at ways of making our tournaments more competitive and constructive and be more conducive to the needs of the International cricket demands,” the insider said. 

He said the window that they are looking for this tournament is August-September this year and once again the tournament will be linked with the Provincial cricket tournament, which is going to be the top most cricket competition in the country. 

The tournament is billed to be played in the same lines of the Indian Premier League tournament, where a number of foreign players would be contracted to take part.

Initially the Sri Lanka Premier League tournament was cenceptualised in the same lines of the highly successful Indian Premier League (IPL) T-20 tournament in 2011, but it only made a short appearance in the 2011 season. 

The teams that took part in the initial tournament were:

Basnahira Cricket Dundee (Western Province) playing under D.M. Dilshan with Duleep Mendis as manager.  

The owner of the team was Indian Cricket Dundee Limited -- (price $4.33 million). 

Kandurata Warriors (Central Province) playing under Sanath Jayasuriya with Romesh Kaluwitharana as coach.  

The owner of the team was Number One Sports Consulting Private Limited (price $4.98 million).

Nagenahira Nagas (Eastern Province) playing under Angelo Mathews with Shane Duff as manager. 

It was owned by Varun Beverages Lanka Private Limited (price $3.22 million). 

Ruhuna Royals (Southern Province) playing under Lasith Malinga with Waqar Younis as manager. 

It was owned by Pearl Overseas Limited (price $4.6 million). 

Uthura Rudras (Northern Province) playing under Jehan Mubarak with Tom Moody as manager.

It was owned by Rudra Sports Private Limited (price $3.4 million).

Uva Next (Uva Province) playing under Thilina Kandamby with  Naveed Nawaz as manager. 

The side was owned by Success Sports Private Limited (price $4.6 million). 

Wayamba United (North Western Province) playing under Mahela Jayawardene with Trevor Bayliss as manager. 

It was owned by Wadhawan Holdings Private Limited (price $5.02 million). 

The final team Kandurata Maroons also from the Central Province was not bought over and Sri Lanka Cricket acted as its owner.  

Lahiru Thirimanne was the captain of this team with Chaminda Vass working as manager. 

However, halfway through the tournament there were problems cropping up and the SLC which signed the deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to organise the tournament ran into several legal tangles. 

The top four ranking sides progressed to the knockout stage of semi-finals followed by a final at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. 

Uva Next beat Nagenahira Nagas to become champions.