Sri Lanka’s Cricket Board Will Auction Some 150 Players Next Month:
Officials said Friday, Sri Lanka‘s cricket board will auction some 150 players next month,including foreign stars, for the five teams that will make up the virus-delayed Premier league. The 23-match Lanka Premier League (LPL), originally due in August, will now be played with matches in Dambulla, Kandy, and Hambantota from November 14th to December 6th.
“The player auction of the LPL will be held on October 1,” the board said in a statement. Five teams named after the Sri Lankan cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla, and Jaffna, will take part.
Sri Lanka Cricket has said that the tournament will feature 30 foreigners including Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Darren Bravo, Shahid Afridi, and Shakib Al Hasan.”Each franchise can buy up to six players from around the world,” the board said. The five teams will consist of 30 international cricketers and 65 local players.
The LPL was due to begin on August 28 but was postponed after long quarantines for international players had been demanded by health authorities. On March 13th international cricket stopped in Sri Lanka. The visiting England team pulled out ahead of their two-Test series as the coronavirus pandemic spread on the second day of a practice match. Since then, South Africa and Bangladesh have canceled scheduled tours of Sri Lanka.
