Lankan officials to meet BCCI on Sri Lanka Premier League

The chairman and secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will meet with the BCCI on Wednesday in an attempt to convince the Indian board to allow its players to participate in the Sri Lanka Premier League. Sri Lanka's sports minister, Mahindanda Aluthgamage, has asked DS de Silva, the chairman, and Nishantha Ranatunga, the secretary, to travel to India to clear the air between the boards. ESPNcricinfo has learned that a meeting has been arranged to discuss the BCCI's objections to the Sri Lankan tournament.

"I have instructed the chairman and the secretary to rush to India and convince the Indian board officials to allow their players to play in our tournament," Aluthgamage told the Daily Mirror. "The chairman will be directly arriving from London, where he has been with the Sri Lanka team, and Ranatunga will join him from Sri Lanka."

Despite the BCCI's reservations, Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Cricket Australia (CA) both offered their support to the SLPL. Gerald Majola, the chief executive of CSA said that "if the home board endorses the tournament, then we endorse it and we have no problem with them playing in the CLT20." And Tony Irish, head of the South Africa Players Association, confirmed that the South African players would receive no-objection certificates to participate in the tournament.

CA also offered its "in-principle support" to the tournament, but acting chief executive, Michael Brown, told the Age he would be discussing details of the tournament with SLC officials at the ICC's annual conference in Hong Kong next week to find out who is involved and what the compensation would be for their players. "We want to support Sri Lanka Cricket, like we want them to support us," Brown said. "We want their players to play in our Big Bash."

On Saturday the BCCI decided to reject the request made by 12 Indian cricketers for No-Objection Certificates to participate in the SLPL, on the grounds that it is event management company Somerset who would be handling the contracts for international players and that could lead to complications for the players should disputes arise.

The SLC responded by denying the BCCI's claim that the SLPL is a private-party organised tournament, saying that the event is owned and approved by SLC, and Aluthgamage was confident a solution could be found. "We have good rapport with the Indian board and I am sure the issue will be sorted out amicably," he said. "The first edition of this tournament will go ahead as scheduled [July 19 to August 4, 2011]."

The minister also stated that former IPL chairman Lalit Modi has nothing to do with the SLPL. "I can say with 100 % assertion there is no role of Lalit Modi in SLPL. I am unaware about his trip to this country, if he had made one two months ago."