Former Captain and current Consultant Coach of national team Mahela Jayawardene has adviced Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to not register overseas players for the 3-day tournament, Cricket Age exclusively learns.
Due to the Pandemic and few other issues, Sri Lanka has already not conducted it’s traditional 3-day First Class tournament since last years! Even this year it’s not certain but SLC claims that it will be played in September-October.
According to sources, as per the SLC constitution, clubs are allowed to register two overseas players for domestic tournaments.
“Out of nowhere, Mahela suddenly conveyed the message to SLC CEO Ashley De Silva about his decision to not register overseas players for the 3-day tournament” a source close to the development told Cricket Age.
Interestingly, Sri Lanka’s domestic season 2022-23 kicked off with just recently concluded Major Club T20 tournament and will be followed by 50 Overs Major Club Tournament, which is scheduled to start from June 27. For these two tournaments, overseas players were/are allowed!
Another shocking fact is that even SLC’s tournament committee chairman, it’s members, domestic cricket vice president and his staff, Incharge or any other concerned authority is still not aware of this sudden development!
“No one has informed our committee or chairman Mr. Samantha Dodenwela about this. He is out of Colombo due to personal tragedy and we have also no clue of this” a tournament committee member told Cricket Age.
“No one has notified us something like this as yet. We are busy in 50 overs Major club tournament preparation, which is just few days away” a domestic cricket department Insider told Cricket Age.
“We are following this tradition since ages (of bringing overseas players for our domestic cricket season). It can’t be changed overnight. Even cricket superpowers like India, England, Australia allows overseas players for their domestic season. We hope that Mahela will bother to at least give the reason for this sudden change” a prominent club’s top official told Cricket Age.
