Sri Lanka tour of England - 2009

[Ayub 95]

April 21-23: Leicestershire (Leicester)
April 25-27: Essex (Chelmsford)
April 29-May 3: England Lions (Derby)
May 7-11: 1st Test (Lord's)
May 15-19: 2nd Test (Chester-le-Street)
May 21: Somerset (Taunton)
May 24: 1st ODI (Bristol)
May 27: 2nd ODI (Edgbaston)
May 30: 3rd ODI (Headingley)

 

[w3lshrugby]

As far as I'm aware, this tour isn't definite yet, as it clashes with the Sri Lankan players playing in next year's IPL.
For what it's worth, surely it would be better for England to play Bangladesh than a weakened Sri Lankan line-up, given that England have not played Bangladesh since 2005, yet played Sri Lanka a number of times in the last 3 years!?

 

[PhilD123]

Yeah I thought that before. However, you'd have to say the Sri Lanka line up, even without some of the big names, would be stronger than a Bangladesh line-up and so provide a better test ahead of the Ashes. Hopefully things will be sorted anyway, but the impact of the IPL is worrying.

 

[Sureshot]

We'll roll over and ask the IPL whether they want to use one hand or both.

International Cricket takes precedent, make the IPL start 4-5 weeks earlier.

 

[PhilD123]

Just been confirmed, Sri Lanka will allow their players to play for the IPL::. How is this tournament which means virtually nothing more important than an international test series?

 

[Ollie_H]

They signed up not expecting to play this tour so honestly fair play to them, It would be harsh for the Sri Lankan cricket board to pull them out after they made the commitment and people payed a lot of money for them, I'm sure many english players will play as well so. I can imagine this turning into a much weaker series. Which could also be quite good as the people who don't get a chance such as Carberry, Denly, Rashid and people who deserver a shot could find themselves proving their worth thus providing a lot more push for places.

 

[sohum]

Umm... I don't think both sides being weakened is a good advertisement for Test cricket.

It's simple. The cricketers are bound by their national contract ahead of their IPL contract and if they prefer to play for the IPL instead of their country, then it speaks wonders about their commitment.

Although the Sri Lankan cricketers have a case seeing they haven't been paid in about 4-5 months or something.

 

[m_vaughan]

I doubt the England lads will play for the IPL ahead of this.

 

[Sureshot]

They probably get better pay than their Sri Lankan counterparts.

 

[Kev]

With 13 Sri Lankans missing for this tour, I don't see that it will go ahead, I doubt very much that the ECB will see it as commercially viable, even full strength with only 2 tests it probably would have only just been worth it. I'd have very little interest in what effectively will be a Sri Lanka A tour.

 

[manee]

With 13 Sri Lankans missing for this tour, I don't see that it will go ahead, I doubt very much that the ECB will see it as commercially viable, even full strength with only 2 tests it probably would have only just been worth it. I'd have very little interest in what effectively will be a Sri Lanka A tour.

Do you still think there shouldn't be a window for the IPL?

 

[Sureshot]

Not if it cuts into our season. We'd only ever be able to host one team a summer, which would make our commitments to the FTP impossible.

I'd quite like to see Bangladesh come over.

 

[Kev]

Do you still think there shouldn't be a window for the IPL?

Yes.