2011 Sri Lanka Premier League

The 2011 Sri Lanka Premier League was a postponed Twenty20 cricket league. It was scheduled as the first edition of the new Twenty20 domestic cricket competition in Sri Lanka, from 19 July to 4 August. It was postponed until 2012, which was held as the 2012 Sri Lanka Premier League, after problems due to allegations of corruption and incompetence by Sri Lanka Cricket. The Board of Control for Cricket in India had also decided not to allow Indian players to play in the tournament.[1][2][3]

2011 Sri Lanka Premier League
2011 Sri Lanka Premier League logo
Administrator(s)Sri Lanka Cricket
Cricket formatTwenty20
Tournament format(s)Round-robin and knockout
Host(s) Sri Lanka
ChampionsEvent cancelled
Participants7
Matches24
2012

The proposed tournament included seven teams representing the provinces of Sri Lanka. The teams were to be captained by six national captains and a former Sri Lanka vice-captain. The tournament was to feature over 30 international cricketers and be the first of its kind in Sri Lanka.

Teams

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Unlike other cricket leagues, the Sri Lanka Premier League did not have city-based teams but instead provincial teams to allow an entire province to associate themselves with a team and thus create a bigger following for the tournament. Seven teams were established in seven provinces, with three being created in 2011.[which?] Aside from the Nagenahira Nagas and the Uthura Oryxes, each of these teams played in a previous Inter-Provincial tournament.[4] North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces did not have teams for the first season. Teams for all the provinces were limited to ensure competitiveness for the future.[5]

Team Province Captain
Basnahira Bears Western Tillakaratne Dilshan
Kandurata Kites Central Kumar Sangakkara
Nagenahira Nagas Eastern Shahid Afridi
Ruhuna Rhinos Southern Sanath Jayasuriya
Uthura Oryxes Northern Daniel Vettori
Uva Unicorns Uva Chaminda Vaas
Wayamba Wolves North Western Mahela Jayawardene

Venue

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All of the matches in the tournament were to be played at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.

Colombo
R Premadasa Stadium
Capacity: 35,000
Venues in Sri Lanka

Squads

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Captains

A few teams had a Sri Lankan captain, Sanath Jayasuriya (Ruhuna), Mahela Jayawardene (Wayamba), Kumar Sangakkara (Kandurata) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (Basnahira); for Nagenahira and Uthura, Pakistan former captain Shahid Afridi and New Zealand former skipper Daniel Vettori have been chosen respectively. The league featured almost 35 international cricketing stars and was the first of its kind in Sri Lanka.

Team composition rules

Each team:[4][6]

  • will have a total squad sizes between 16 and 18 players.
  • is allowed to have five overseas players, but only four will be allowed to play in a match.
  • will have a minimum seven Sri Lankan players, with one player being an under-21 cricketer.
  • will have icon or marquee players, as well as a prominent ex-Sri Lanka player as a mentor or coach.

Sri Lankan national selectors and cricket authorities agreed to blood as many youngsters and almost 70 Sri Lankan cricketers would be registered in the seven team tournament. Almost all Pakistani national cricketers were invited to play in the SLPL. In addition to that International stars like Chris Gayle and the Bravo brothers (Dwayne and Darren), Herschelle Gibbs, David Warner, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Kevin O'Brien, Daniel Christian, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Vettori and Shaun Tait would have been seen in action on Sri Lankan soil. Salaries would have been lower than the IPL, with the highest at $30,000, with Shahid Afridi getting $35,000. Shoaib Akhtar was also included among the international players who took part in SLPL. But later on he has decided to pull out of SLPL for personal reasons.[7]

International players that were expected to play[2][8][9]
Indian players who were barred from playing[8][9][10]

Fixtures

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Group stage
Knockout stage
Semi-finals
2 August (D/N)
Scorecard
Group stage 1st place
v
Group stage 4th place
3 August (D/N)
Scorecard
Group stage 2nd place
v
Group stage 3rd place
Final
4 August (D/N)
Scorecard
Winner of semi-final 1
v
Winner of semi-final 2

Media coverage

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All 24 matches were planned to be telecast live to every cricketing nation.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Van Hoff, Gavin (19 June 2011). "Corruption and incompetence brings Sri Lanka's SLPL T20 tournament to its knees". Island Cricket. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  2. ^ a b "No Indians in SLPL, says BCCI". ESPNcricinfo. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  3. ^ Engineer, Tariq (7 July 2011). "Sri Lanka Premier League postponed to 2012". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  4. ^ a b Patranobis, Sutirtho (12 May 2011). "Now, Sri Lanka to start IPL-style meet". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  5. ^ "SLPL to add two more provinces later". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  6. ^ "SLPL to kick off in July?". Lanka Newspapers. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  7. ^ "Top players approached for Sri Lankan T20 league".
  8. ^ a b "Afridi to lead a team in Sri Lanka Premier League". ESPNcricinfo. 11 May 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Gayle, Afridi, Gibbs among 33 overseas players in Sri Lanka T20 league". Island Cricket. 14 May 2011. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  10. ^ "12 Indians for Sri Lankan Premier League: report". Rediff. 16 May 2011.
  11. ^ "Now, Sri Lanka to start IPL-style meet – Hindustan Times". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
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