Sri Lankan cricketers will be limited to a maximum of three franchise leagues a year under rules proposed by the Sri Lanka Cricket transformation committee.
The three leagues include the Lanka Premier League (LPL), the island’s own franchise tournament. That leaves room for players to take part in only two overseas leagues in a year.
The proposed rules also say that players must return to Sri Lanka ten days before an international match they are due to play for the country.
The measures are intended to increase players’ commitment to the national team and to give international fixtures priority over franchise tournaments.
The proposals set a clear ceiling on how much of a calendar year a player can spend in franchise cricket, and a clear deadline for being back in the national camp before a match.
Background
Franchise leagues are privately owned, city-based or team-based Twenty20 tournaments that are staged around the world, often with large player contracts. The LPL, Sri Lanka’s version, was first held in 2020.
In recent years the fixtures of such leagues have often overlapped with international series, and national boards in several countries have had to decide when to release players. Boards commonly control this through the contracts they hold with players and the no-objection certificates they issue for overseas tournaments.
Sri Lankan players have regularly been in demand at overseas leagues, which means the balance between club tournaments and national duty has been a recurring question for the sport on the island.
What it means
For supporters, the proposals aim to make sure that Sri Lanka’s first-choice players are fit, rested and available when the national side plays, with time to prepare together before a match.
For players, the cap means choosing carefully which tournaments to enter, because only two of the three leagues allowed in a year can be played outside Sri Lanka. A player whose overseas league runs close to a Sri Lanka fixture would, on the face of the ten-day rule, have to leave that league early to be home in time.
The proposals are rules put forward by the committee. They would shape how players plan their year if they are adopted by Sri Lanka Cricket.
