Everything you need to know about the first edition of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) tournament

When does it start?

Sri Lankan cricket fans will soon get a taste of their own IPL-style T20 tournament. AFP PHOTO/Ishara S. KODIKARA.The final schedule is yet to be announced but the 18-day tournament is expected to get underway at the end of July and finish in early August.

Where will the matches be played?

All matches will be played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Two matches will be played each day, starting at 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM (local time) and in the event the final schedule allocates a single game on a given day, the match will start at 8:00 PM.

How many teams will be participating?

Seven teams will represent Sri Lanka's provinces. They are: Kandurata, Nagenahira, Ruhuna, Basnahira, Uthura, Uva and Wayamba.

Will there be international players?

Yes. Similar to the IPL, only four overseas players per side will be allowed in the final playing XI. The regulations also call for the inclusion of one Sri Lankan under-21 player in the final XI.

Who are the international cricketers expected to play?

No official announcement has been on this front, but unconfirmed media reports suggest Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi, Daniel Vettori, Shoaib Akthar, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Christian, Herschelle Gibbs and Kevin O'Brien are likely to feature, while several Indian players too may have been approached.

Don't copy Malinga, but learn from him

NEW DELHI: There's only one thing on the minds of IPL teams not titled Mumbai Indians: How and why is Lasith Malinga so dangerous? And how can his success be emulated? 

The MI seamer has bagged 24 wickets in 10 games in IPL 4 so far, and his strike rate has sent shockwaves down opposition spines. While his slinging action cannot be emulated, maybe there are lessons to learn from Malinga's success for every Indian seamer. 

For one, Malinga is adept at not pitching the ball in a good length area, which is between four to six metres from the stumps. His preferred length is between six to eight metres, and by mixing his deliveries, he ensures that none of the batsmen are able to read him easily. 

By the time you have read Malinga, an over is already up. Then there are the variations. If a batsman is expecting Malinga to bowl one of the deadly yorkers, there could be a bouncer - either fastish or a markedly slower one - in store. 

As Virender Sehwag has pointed out, Malinga doesn't depend on the pitch to be effective. An economy rate of below seven in the T20 format also marks him out as extraordinary. 

In his team, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh are the other two bowlers who have that kind of an economy rate, and the only other IPL bowlers in this club are Pune Warriors' Rahul Sharma and Kolkata's Iqbal Abdulla. 

"Malinga is very quick through the air and that is probably why he doesn't bother how the pitch is playing. Irrespective of the nature of the track, he will give you wickets. If he is bowling on a pitch that will assist pacers, he will be simply unplayable," former Indian pacer Manoj Prabhakar said, adding: "In this format, every batsman is trying to hit out. The bowlers who have not done something innovative to survive have struggled. Malinga is a thinking and innovative bowler." 

India's bowling coach Eric Simons agreed that Malinga's success is a pointer for every IPL seamer. "He is a unique bowler. But everything that works with him can't work for someone else. The focus should be on concentrating on your strengths to develop yourself as a mature bowler," Simons said, pointing out that Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel have been bowling exceptionally well this season because they know their limits. 

Reverse swing is another important element in Malinga's repertoire. "He reverses the ball late. Even Zaheer can do it well, but in T20 it's not effective because he doesn't have Malinga's pace. Munaf gets close to the stumps and is showing improvement in every series. It will do a world of good to the other Indian seamers if they follow Zaheer and Munaf's footsteps," Prabhakar said, adding that Sreesanth has the talent but not the temperament to try things differently. 

While Zaheer and Munaf have been India's best bowlers, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Vinay Kumar are the other top contenders for the West Indies tour. 

Praveen depends heavily on swing, and is not as effective with the older ball. Ishant depends too much on his rhythm to get going, while Vinay utilises the short ball well and also varies his pace. 

Against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Vinay uprooted Chris Gayle's off-stump using a Malinga-style 'slinging' action. 

Early wickets are a must in T20 if a team's score is to be limited to the 150-run range, and this is where Malinga has been so effective for MI. 

He has targeted the top order with success in every match. How many Indian bowlers can meet such a requirement? 

MAHELA, KUMAR BACK MALINGA’S DECISION

Jaipur/Hyderabad: When cricket administrators in Sri Lanka blamed Lasith Malinga for picking IPL over country in the wake of his retirement from Test cricket, the slinger got staunch support from his teammates.

Former Sri Lankan captains, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, backed Malinga’s decision to quit Test cricket to prolong his international career.

“I feel he has taken the right decision after pondering over all aspects. He has been suffering from this knee injury for quite some time,” Jayawardene said on Saturday.

Malinga cited a “long-standing degenerative condition” in his right knee for his retirement from Test cricket.

Endorsing the speedster’s decision, Jayawardene added: “I know when I was the captain we used to try and calculate his work load and used him accordingly. At times, it used to flare up and once he was away from cricket for 16 months.

“In order to extend his career he has to quit Test cricket. In fact, his target is next world cup in 2015 and by bidding adieu to Tests he has prolonged his career in the shorter versions of the game.

“He had worked hard and made a fine comeback and is performing brilliantly. He has realised that he can’t sustain that huge workload and, perhaps, has prolonged his career. I am very happy for him.”

Kumar Sangakkara was equally effusive in his praise and support for the fast bowler. “It gets confusing when people try and take sides.

“There is never a stage where Lasith can ever pick IPL over country. He is a dedicated no-nonsense cricketer. He is the toughest no-nonsense cricketer I have ever met,” Sangakkara told a television channel.

Malinga’s surprise announcement was interpreted as a move to put an end to the selection dispute with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), which wanted him to return from IPL for rehab.

The speedster had pulled out of Sri Lanka’s upcoming Test tour of England citing Injury. But he clarified Thursday that his condition stopped him from playing Test cricket.

“I don’t think there was ever a question that Lasith did not want to play Test cricket. He wanted to play in all three formats of the game. Unfortunately for him, his body was not able to stand the rigours of Test cricket.

“He is a guy who gives everything when on the field. So, you can’t question his commitments. He does not think about the next match or the next series. He only thinks about doing well in that particular match,” Sangakkara said. 

(AGENCIES)

Malinga quits Test cricket

Lasith Malinga has officially announced his retirement from Test cricket - and maybe, in light of recent events, this was a case of being pushed too far. For those who came in late, the Sri Lankan Cricket Board had left Malinga out of the Test squad for England; chairman of selectors Duleep Mendis had then gone on record to say that it was "unfortunate" that Malinga had announced he wasn't fit to play Tests, but had continued to play in the IPL. Whatever the differences actually were, they could have been addressed by the player and board in private dialog; the public questioning appears to have triggered the Lankan Slinga's decision. In a statement released to the media, Malinga says:

"In January of this year I wrote a letter to Sri Lanka Cricket and released a statement to the media confirming that I planned to reassess my Test future after the World Cup. After the tournament I decided that I needed to make myself unavailable for Test cricket in an effort to prolong my career as a national cricketer for Sri Lanka.

Although I am sufficiently fit to play both ODI and T20 cricket, I have a long-standing degenerative condition in my right knee that needs to be carefully managed.

The condition relates directly to the chronic knee injury I sustained playing for Sri Lanka inAustralia back in February 2008, an injury that prevented me from playing ODI cricket for 16 months. The injury was a career-threatening injury and my orthopaedic surgeon was of the opinion that given his experience with other professional athletes in Australia I was very fortunate to play again.

I have since been advised by the national team physiotherapist and my orthopaedic consultant that my condition will deteriorate when fielding or bowling for prolonged periods.

I did try to return to Test cricket after a three-year absence last year following requests from the team management and the selectors, but it left me unfit nursing severe knee pain for two months.

I have realised that the heavy workload of Test cricket, which requires a fast bowler to be able to bowl more than 15 overs, sometimes on consecutive days, could lead to permanent injury.

I have carefully considered my options and have decided that not playing Test cricket will help me achieve my goal of representing Sri Lanka in the 2012 World Twenty20 and the 2015 World Cup.

While representing Sri Lanka in as many ICC events as possible is my priority, I am fully available for selection for all Sri Lanka's ODI and T20 matches. I plan to travel to Sri Lanka shortly to discuss my future plans with the selectors."

Sri Lanka board to ask Malinga to return from IPL

Sri Lanka Cricket will ask fast bowler Lasith Malinga to return from the IPL and undergo a rehabilitation programme after he made himself unavailable for the upcoming Test series in England. Malinga had stated that he is suffering from an injury, but continues to play for Mumbai Indians in the Twenty20 tournament. Malinga did not figure in the Sri Lanka squad of 16 players named for the three-Test series against England starting on May 26 in Cardiff.

"It looks a bit awkward when someone says he is injured and continues to play cricket," Sri Lanka's new chairman of selectors Duleep Mendis said. "That is the reason why we have decided to write to Malinga and ask him to return home and undergo a rehabilitation programme. Malinga has specifically mentioned in a letter that he is not available for Test matches right now because he has a nagging knee problem.

"When the player says that he is injured and he has to undergo a rehab programme what we can do is to tell him to undergo it immediately without continuing to play cricket in the IPL, and then get ready for cricket in Sri Lanka if he is interested in playing for his country."

Mendis said they would have to wait and see what Malinga's response was before deciding on the next course of action.

Nishantha Ranatunga, the SLC secretary, also expressed concerns over Malinga's absence from the Test team. "We are very much concerned about Malinga because he is an important product in the team," Ranatunga said. "He should be up and running to play in all three formats of the game. In that sense getting him fit and ready to play at full strength is very important."

Malinga has shown a reluctance to play Test cricket since he sustained a long-term knee injury more than two years ago. Since December 2007, he has played only two Tests - against India at home last year - and has confined himself to playing in limited overs and Twenty20 cricket, where he has been very successful. He has, however, not officially stated that he is unavailable to play Test cricket for Sri Lanka.

 Feeds: Sa'adi Thawfeeq

picture Lasith Mlinga's facebook fan page 

Dinesh Chandimal in SL Test squad for England

The 16-member squad has four fast bowlers in Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep. Seamer Nuwan Kulasekara, who played in Sri Lanka's previous Test series, against West Indies, is not part of the squad.

Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal have also received call-ups. Both are considered to be among the most promising young Sri Lankan batsmen, and have already played ODIs. Chandimal debuted in the ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe last year as a wicketkeeper-batsman.

Thisara Perera is the bowling allrounder in the squad to be led by new captain Tillakaratne Dilshan. A vice-captain to Dilshan is yet to be announced.

Sri Lanka squad: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (Capt) 2 Tharanga Paranavitana 3 Lahiru Thirimanne 4 Kumar Sangakkara 5 Mahela Jayawardene 6 Thilan Samaraweera 7 Dinesh Chandimal 8 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk) 9 Thisara Perera 10 Suraj Randiv 11 Ajantha Mendis 12 Rangana Herath 13 Dilhara Fernando 14 Chanaka Welegedara 15 Suranga Lakmal 16 Nuwan Pradeep

Atapattu appointed Sri Lanka batting coach

Former Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu has been appointed as the team's batting coach. He will join a training contingent that includes interim coach Stuart Law, Champaka Ramanayaka and Ruwan Kalpage for the tour of England that gets underway next month.

Sri Lanka will name the full-time successor for Trevor Bayliss, whose tenure as coach ended with the World Cup, only after the England tour.

Atapattu's appointment comes a day after Tillakaratne Dilshan was named as the team's captain, following Kumar Sangakkara's resignation. Atapattu played the last of his 90 Tests in November 2007, and also also featured in 268 one-dayers. He played the rebel Indian Cricket League towards the end of his career, before taking over coaching assignments. He was the national coach of the Singapore team for year 2010.

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