SLC confirms provincial T20 tournament

The four-team provincial Twenty20 tournament that replaces this year's Sri Lanka Premier League will run from August 10 to 17, Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmed. All seven matches in the league will take place at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, and the winning side will earn a trip to India for the Champions League qualifiers in September.

The tournament will also give Sri Lanka's young batting group further leadership experience. Angelo Mathews will captain the Basnahira Greens, Dinesh Chandimal the Uthura Yellows, Lahiru Thirimanne the Kandurata Maroons and Lasith Malinga will lead the Ruhuna Reds. Each team plays each other once, before the two top sides qualify for the final.

The selectors have chosen preliminary squads of 17-18 players for each team, with the final 15-man squads to be named in the next two days.

The SLPL had been scheduled to be played from August 10 to September 7, but was called off after all eight franchises refused to pay their tournament fee, and also failed to guarantee player payments.

Preliminary Squads
Basnahira Greens: Angelo Mathews (capt), Udara Jayasundara, Dilshan Munaweera, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Sachithra Senanayake, Chaturanga de Silva, Kosala Kulasekara, Kanishka Alvitigala, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Gamage, Isuru Udana, Janaka Gunaratne, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sameera Soyza, Gihan Rupasinghe, Kaushal Silva
Coach: Marvan Atapattu
Uthura Yellows: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Mahela Udawatte, Chamara Kapugedera, Ashan Priyanjan, Mahela Jayawardene, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Shaminda Eranga, Vimukthi Perera, Ramith Rambukwella, Rangana Herath, Akila Dananjaya, Rumesh Buddika, Chathura Peiris, Alankara Asanka, Madushanka Ekanayake, Chaminda Vidanapathirana
Coach: Ruwan Kalpage
Kandurata Maroons: Lahiru Thirimanne (capt), Upul Tharanga, Shehan Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Thilina Kandamby, Milinda Siriwardene, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Dhammika Prasad, Lahiru Jayaratne, Ajantha Mendis, Suraj Randiv, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Dananjaya de Silva, Dasun Chanaka, Malinga Bandara
Coach: Chaminda Vaas
Ruhuna Reds: Lasith Malinga (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Angelo Perera, Jehan Mubarak, Niroshan Dickwella, Dilruwan Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Ishan Jayaratne, Farveez Maharoof, Madura Lakmal, Binara Fernando, Yashoda Lanka, Sadun Weerakkody, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Thilina Thushara
Coach: Romesh Kaluwitharana