Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has decided to give a three-month cooling period to its ICL contracted players before they can be accepted into the system, provided they cut off all ties with the unofficial Twenty20 league. The players include Mavan Atapattu, Upul Chandana, Avishka Gunawardene, Russel Arnold and Saman Jayantha.

This decision was taken by the SLC's interim committee on Thursday. Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said the verdict to allow the ICL contracted players to get back was taken with the intention of making full use of their experience in different capacities.

"We have followed the line taken by the Indian board but we have decided to reduce the cooling period to three months so that we can have these players back as quickly as possible," said Ranatunga.

He also said that those players concerned will not be able to apply for the coaches post for the Sri Lanka A team, development team and Academy side because applications had already closed.

"Even if they were eligible it would not have been ethical to bring them in straight away. We will make use of them in a different capacity once the cooling period is over," Ranatunga said.