Sri Lanka seeks foreign players for T20 League

Colombo, May 9 (IANS) Sri Lanka has begun negotiations with foreign cricket boards to invite overseas players for the Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL) Twenty20 cricket tournament to be held in August, the country's cricket board said Wednesday.

A board member told Xinhua on the condition of anonymity that Sri Lanka hopes to obtain the services of some of the top names in international cricket for the SLPL which was earlier scheduled to be held last year but had to be postponed.

"We are negotiating with the cricket boards from other countries and we hope we can get down the best players for the tournament to be held in August," the Cricket Board member said.

The Sri Lanka Premier League, which was to be staged last year following the success of the popular Indian Premier League (IPL), had to be postponed after a dispute with the Indian cricket board.

Cricket is a popular game in Sri Lanka particularly after the island nation won the World Cup in 1996, beating Australia in the final.