SLC in talks with health authorities to obtain clearance for LPL

• Around 150-200 individuals expected to arrive for the 32-day event

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka Cricket officials held their second round of discussions with the country’s health authorities yesterday to obtain the necessary clearance to host the Lanka Premier League (LPL), which will involve at least 30 international cricketers from around the world in addition to the television crew and other

Sri Lanka Cricket  CEO Ashley de Silva

officials connected with the event.

The LPL is scheduled to be held from 28 August to 30 September and involves a total of 23 league matches to be played across four international venues in Sri Lanka.

“Last week some of our officials went to the Health Ministry and met with Director-General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jayasinghe. He wanted us to form a committee which comprised members from SLC and the GMOA’s office,” said Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva.

“The committee comprised the Vice President Ravin Wickremaratne and me from SLC, and three or four members of the GMOA’s office with whom we met today (Thursday) in the afternoon. Based on that we had discussions and we also gave them all the information which is required. We discussed about the guidelines and everything who the people that would be attending the event. They wanted us to share that information with them today. Hopefully by next Tuesday we would meet up and have a further discussion before a final decision is taken and the proposals are put across,” he said.

According to De Silva around 150-200 individuals are expected to arrive for the 32-day event, the first of its kind since 2012.

“Altogether there would be about 30 foreign players, the TV crew might consist of about 30-40 people and on top of that the stake holders will want to come, the sponsors and all that. Totally we are looking at about 150-200 to get clearance. We will have to give a list of all the people coming for the event and share the information,” said De Silva.

Getting permission from the Health Ministry is the first step towards receiving the green light to host the tournament.

“The health authorities are the first people who will have to give us the guidelines and based on that only we can go the respective authorities and obtain the approval,” said De Silva.

“We have to get down the players, maybe we may have to get them to one location and fly them on one flight either from Singapore or Dubai. Those are the alternatives which we are looking at. Currently we are having a discussion with our events holder (IPG) whom we have appointed because they are the people who will be engaging with the franchise owners and the players. Then we will see what are the kind of approvals we require from our end to support it,” he said.

The standard quarantine period as laid down by the health authorities for anyone entering the country is for a period of 14 days in isolation. However De Silva stated that there could be a reduction on the quarantine period for the tournament.

“The quarantine period and all that is being considered by the health authorities, it is a proposal which we have put and trying to formulate it how many days of quarantine. It might less than 14 days. They are exploring the possibility of reducing the number of days but let’s see. We cannot give any kind of commitment for the moment since they said they need to have internal discussions and how best they can work it out,” De Silva said.

“We are supposed to meet again on Tuesday and by Wednesday we want to finalise the report and put the proposals across,” he said.