Sri Lanka to discuss England tour with ECB officials

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has decided to allow its cricketers to play in the IPL next year despite the fact that the league clashes with Sri Lanka's tour of England.

"We will be taking up the matter with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) shortly to find what alternatives we can arrive at without upsetting both parties," SLC chief executive Duleep Mendis said on Thursday evening after a meeting of the board.

"The players were already committed to playing in the IPL for three years [2008-10] but have assured us they will give the 2011 tour of England top priority ahead of the IPL. Taking this into consideration we couldn't let them down."

The ECB has proposed a tour with SLC for three pre-Test warm-up games, two Tests, a one-day practice game against Somerset and three ODIs that will be held between April 21 and May 30..

Mendis said the compromise with the ECB would be to change the dates for the two Tests and three one-day internationals or to send a combined Sri Lanka team without IPL players. He conceded, though, that the ECB has not agreed to replacing the two Tests with five ODIs. "These are issues we need to thrash out with the ECB," he said.