# 2011 Sri Lanka Premier League

The 2011 Sri Lanka Premier League was a postponed Twenty20 cricket league. It was scheduled as the first edition of the new Twenty20 domestic cricket competition in Sri Lanka, from 19 July to 4 August. It was postponed until 2012, which was held as the 2012 Sri Lanka Premier League, after problems due to allegations of corruption and incompetence by Sri Lanka Cricket. The Board of Control for Cricket in India had also decided not to allow Indian players to play in the tournament.
The proposed tournament included seven teams representing the provinces of Sri Lanka. The teams were to be captained by six national captains and a former Sri Lanka vice-captain. The tournament was to feature over 30 international cricketers and be the first of its kind in Sri Lanka.

## Teams

Unlike other cricket leagues, the Sri Lanka Premier League did not have city-based teams but instead provincial teams to allow an entire province to associate themselves with a team and thus create a bigger following for the tournament. Seven teams were established in seven provinces, with three being created in 2011. Aside from the Nagenahira Nagas and the Uthura Oryxes, each of these teams played in a previous Inter-Provincial tournament. North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces did not have teams for the first season. Teams for all the provinces were limited to ensure competitiveness for the future.
| Team | Province | Captain |
| Basnahira Bears | Western | Tillakaratne Dilshan |
| Kandurata Kites | Central | Kumar Sangakkara |
| Nagenahira Nagas | Eastern | Shahid Afridi |
| Ruhuna Rhinos | Southern | Sanath Jayasuriya |
| Uthura Oryxes | Northern | Daniel Vettori |
| Uva Unicorns | Uva | Chaminda Vaas |
| Wayamba Wolves | North Western | Mahela Jayawardene |

## Venue

All of the matches in the tournament were to be played at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
Colombo :
R Premadasa Stadium :
Capacity: 35,000 :

## Squads
### Captains

A few teams had a Sri Lankan captain, Sanath Jayasuriya (Ruhuna), Mahela Jayawardene (Wayamba), Kumar Sangakkara (Kandurata) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (Basnahira); for Nagenahira and Uthura, Pakistan former captain Shahid Afridi and New Zealand former skipper Daniel Vettori have been chosen respectively. The league featured almost 35 international cricketing stars and was the first of its kind in Sri Lanka.

### Team composition rules

Each team:
* will have a total squad sizes between 16 and 18 players.
* is allowed to have five overseas players, but only four will be allowed to play in a match.
* will have a minimum seven Sri Lankan players, with one player being an under-21 cricketer.
* will have icon or marquee players, as well as a prominent ex-Sri Lanka player as a mentor or coach.
Sri Lankan national selectors and cricket authorities agreed to blood as many youngsters and almost 70 Sri Lankan cricketers would be registered in the seven team tournament. Almost all Pakistani national cricketers were invited to play in the SLPL. In addition to that International stars like Chris Gayle and the Bravo brothers (Dwayne and Darren), Herschelle Gibbs, David Warner, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Kevin O'Brien, Daniel Christian, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Vettori and Shaun Tait would have been seen in action on Sri Lankan soil. Salaries would have been lower than the IPL, with the highest at $30,000, with Shahid Afridi getting $35,000. Shoaib Akhtar was also included among the international players who took part in SLPL. But later on he has decided to pull out of SLPL for personal reasons.

### International players that were expected to play

* Shaun Tait
* Callum Ferguson
* David Warner
* Daniel Christian
* Tamim Iqbal
* Shakib Al Hasan
* Shafiul Islam
* Mohammad Ashraful
* Kevin O'Brien
* Daniel Vettori
* Umar Akmal
* Shahid Afridi
* Abdul Razzaq
* Imran Nazir
* Mohammad Sami
* Umar Gul
* Sohail Tanvir
* Wahab Riaz
* Misbah-ul-Haq
* Albie Morkel
* Herschelle Gibbs
* Lonwabo Tsotsobe
* Makhaya Ntini
* Chris Gayle
* Darren Bravo
* Kieron Pollard

### Indian players who were barred from playing

* Manish Pandey
* Manoj Tiwary
* Paul Valthaty
* Ravindra Jadeja
* Saurabh Tiwary
* Umesh Yadav
* Vinay Kumar
* Yuvraj Singh
* Yusuf Pathan
* Munaf Patel
* Ravichandran Ashwin

## Fixtures

* 19 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Basnahira Bears | v | Kandurata Kites |
* Match 1 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 20 July Scorecard
| Nagenahira Nagas | v | Ruhuna Rhinos |
* Match 2 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 20 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Uthura Oryxes | v | Wayamba Wolves |
* Match 3 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 21 July Scorecard
| Uva Unicorns | v | Basnahira Bears |
* Match 4 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 21 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Kandurata Kites | v | Nagenahira Nagas |
* Match 5 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 23 July Scorecard
| Ruhuna Rhinos | v | Uthura Oryxes |
* Match 6 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 23 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Wayamba Wolves | v | Uva Unicorns |
* Match 7 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 24 July Scorecard
| Basnahira Bears | v | Nagenahira Nagas |
* Match 8 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 24 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Kandurata Kites | v | Ruhuna Rhinos |
* Match 9 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 25 July Scorecard
| Uthura Oryxes | v | Uva Unicorns |
* Match 10 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 25 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Wayamba Wolves | v | Basnahira Bears |
* Match 11 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 26 July Scorecard
| Kandurata Kites | v | Uthura Oryxes |
* Match 12 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 26 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Nagenahira Nagas | v | Wayamba Wolves |
* Match 13 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 28 July Scorecard
| Ruhuna Rhinos | v | Uva Unicorns |
* Match 14 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 28 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Uthura Oryxes | v | Basnahira Bears |
* Match 15 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 29 July Scorecard
| Wayamba Wolves | v | Kandurata Kites |
* Match 16 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 29 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Uva Unicorns | v | Nagenahira Nagas |
* Match 17 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 30 July Scorecard
| Basnahira Bears | v | Ruhuna Rhinos |
* Match 18 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 30 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Kandurata Kites | v | Uva Unicorns |
* Match 19 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 31 July Scorecard
| Nagenahira Nagas | v | Uthura Oryxes |
* Match 20 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 31 July (D/N) Scorecard
| Ruhuna Rhinos | v | Wayamba Wolves |
* Match 21 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

### Semi-finals

* 2 August (D/N) Scorecard
| Group stage 1st place | v | Group stage 4th place |
* Semi-final 1 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
* 3 August (D/N) Scorecard
| Group stage 2nd place | v | Group stage 3rd place |
* Semi-final 2 R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

### Final

* 4 August (D/N) Scorecard
| Winner of semi-final 1 | v | Winner of semi-final 2 |
* Final R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

## Media coverage

All 24 matches were planned to be telecast live to every cricketing nation.