Ten sports issue will be settled: Dharmadasa

In a bid to avoid a legal battle with Ten Sports, Sri Lanka Cricket is now trying to save the multi-million dollar domestic telecast rights deal with the sports channel ahead of the lucrative series against India.

Ten sports has already warned that it was open to all options, including legal action, if the SLC goes ahead with the decision to terminate the new deal that was valid from 2009-12.

The man at the center of the controversy, business tycoon and former SLC interim committee chairman Jayantha Dharmadasa, under whose regime the deal was signed, has expressed confidence that the issue would be sorted out through discussion.

"We undertook the deal in a transparent way and I am looking forward to meeting the Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge to find an amicable solution to the whole unfortunate issue," Dharmadasa told PTI on Sunday.

The deal was cancelled following the findings of a special three-member committee headed by the Secretary to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports and Public Recreation S Liyanagama.

"I have instructed SLC to cancel the television contract after receiving the finding of a special three-member committee," Sri Lankan Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge had said last week.

Dharmadasa said the deal was reasonable considering there were only two confirmed home series - against West Indies and Pakistan -- till 2012 at that point of time.

"They have said that the whole deal was not transparent and we have not obtained the minister's (Lokuge) approval to sign it. The reality is that we did get the Interim Committee approval and there was no requirement of getting get the minister's approval," Dharmadasa said.

"This is because the Interim Committee was given full authority on a gazette notification to take all necessary decisions for the smooth flow of the running of the organisation," he said.

Meanwhile, Ten Sports Chief executive Chris McDonald has reportedly written a letter to SLC Chief Executive Duleep Mendis on the issue.

"The way to mitigate this problem is for SLC and Taj Television Ltd (which operates sports channel Ten sports) to sit down and amicably discuss potential solutions - not for SLC to unlawfully and wrongly terminate our contract based on the siren song of other broadcasters.

"Any such termination would have severe legal repercussions," McDonald said in the letter.

Dharmadasa also pointed out that SLC would be faced with litigation problems from Taj TV Ltd. If the deal is cancelled.

The decision by SLC calls for terminating the deal involving two new agreements signed with Ten Sports for providing TV rights for home matches from 2009 to 2012.

The Review Committee was asked to probe circumstances in which the agreements for the new contract deal were signed.

Taj Television is, however, entitled to participate in any tender that would be floated by the SLC for future TV rights.

Sri Lanka yet to resolve England tour crisis

Sri Lankan cricket's governing body has yet to resolve the crisis over next year's England tour that clashes with a more financially lucrative tournament in India, officials said on Saturday.

A source at Sri Lanka Cricket dismissed local media reports indicating the board had agreed to allow players to take part in the Indian Premier League despite the clash with the England tour scheduled for April and May.

"The issue is yet to be finalised and very much at a discussion stage," the source said, asking to remain anonymous. He said they were awaiting a response from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Some 13 Sri Lankan cricketers, including star players Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara, have signed three-year contracts to play in the IPL.

The players argued they received permission to play in the IPL before the ECB came up with the idea of replacing Zimbabwe with Sri Lanka for the early part of the summer 2009.

Sri Lankan players earlier this week asked President Mahinda Rajapakse to persuade Sri Lanka Cricket to re-schedule the England tour.

The ECB has already released the itinerary for Sri Lanka's tour between April 21 and May 30, which will include three Test matches and three one-day internationals.

The next season's IPL is due to take place between April 10 to May 29. Sri Lanka's apparent readiness to consider putting the IPL over the tour of England has drawn a tough reaction from the International Cricket Council.

Sri Lanka yet to resolve tour crisis

Sri Lankan cricket's governing body has yet to resolve the crisis over next year's England tour that clashes with a more financially lucrative tournament in India, officials said.

A source at Sri Lanka Cricket dismissed local media reports indicating the board had agreed to allow players to take part in the Indian Premier League despite the clash with the England tour scheduled for April and May.

“The issue is yet to be finalised and very much at a discussion stage,'' the source said, asking to remain anonymous. He said they were awaiting a response from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Some 13 Sri Lankan cricketers, including star players Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara, have signed three-year contracts to play in the IPL.

The players argued they received permission to play in the IPL before the ECB came up with the idea of replacing Zimbabwe with Sri Lanka for the early part of the summer 2009.

Sri Lankan players earlier this week asked President Mahinda Rajapakse to persuade Sri Lanka Cricket to re-schedule the England tour.

The ECB has already released the itinerary for Sri Lanka's tour between April 21 and May 30, which will include three Test matches and three one-day internationals.

The next season's IPL is due to take place between April 10 to May 29.

Sri Lanka's apparent readiness to consider putting the IPL over the tour of England has drawn a tough reaction from the International Cricket Council.

Sri Lanka players want England tour rescheduled

Sri Lanka's cricketers want next year's hastily arranged Test tour of England to be rescheduled as the dates clash with the lucrative Indian Premier League, sources close to the team said Thursday.

"The players met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and urged him to get the tour postponed or played after the IPL," one source told AFP.

"The president was very sympathetic towards the players and agreed to look into their request."

The tour, arranged earlier this month after England suspended bilateral cricket relations with Zimbabwe, includes two Tests, three one-dayers and four warm-up games and runs from April 21 to May 30.

The IPL, which features at least 13 top Sri Lankans including captain Mahela Jayawardene and star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, is due to be played between April 10 and May 25.

One top player, who declined to be named, told AFP the cricketers had handed the president a letter when they met him on Wednesday to celebrate their victory in the recent Asia Cup in Pakistan.

"We wrote a letter, signed by all of us, appealing to the president to either call off the tour or push back the dates," he said.

Rajapakse's spokesman said the president had instructed Sri Lanka's sports minister Gamini Lokuge to raise this issue when Sri Lanka Cricket's interim committee meets later on Thursday.

"The president promised to look into the players' grievances and instructed the sports minister to ask the interim committee to draw up alternative proposals," spokesman Lucien Rajakarunanayake told AFP.

The tour was formalised between the England and Wales Cricket Board and Sri Lanka Cricket chief Arjuna Ranatunga on the sidelines of the International Cricket Council meetings in Dubai earlier this month.

This is not the first time Sri Lankan players have demanded an international series be scrapped so they could play in the IPL.

Sri Lanka's limited-overs tour of Pakistan was cancelled in April-May this year because the dates clashed with the IPL's inaugural tournament.