September 19 2008

Sri Lankan cricket board lifted a domestic ban from five Sri Lankan players and one umpire; they were accused of signing a contract with ICL, which is a banned cricket league.

The Indian Cricket League praised that decision. They signed the contract with ICL last year. Himanshu Mody, who is an ICL business head, said that this is a positive step from Sri Lankan cricket board towards cricket.

He was talking to Reuters. ICL is an unauthorized league. It has not been sanctioned by International Cricket Council and all national governing bodies oppose it. The result is obvious; it received an automatic ban from all forms of cricket being played anywhere in the world.

The names of the players who were banned and later on freed from it are: Marvan Atapattu, Upul Chandana, Saman Jayantha, Avishka Gunawardene and Russel Arnold. The umpire was Ranmore Martinesz.