Trinidad and Tobago's Samuel Badree and Kevon Cooper have been drafted to play in the Sri Lankan Premier league set to bowl off on August 11. The two are the only players from this country to play in the league, as some of the regular T20 travellers did not put up their names for varying reasons. However, Badree who made his debut for the West Indies last weekend against New Zealand in Florida, is excited about the league: "Being selected for the West Indies in T20 cricket has put me on the market and hopefully other offers would come my way. I am happy with the opportunity to play in Sri Lanka because this tournament is like a precursor for the T20 World Cup and some good performances there could catch the eyes of the West Indies selectors."
Badree added that he is comfortable travelling to Sri Lanka for the tournament as the world players body FICA has given their blessings for the tournament. Apart from Badree and Cooper, the other West Indians going to Sri Lanka will be headline act Chris Gayle, Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach and Marlon Samuels. Sri Lanka Cricket has named 56 foreign players who will play in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League. There are no India or England players who were picked by the seven franchises via a draft system in Colombo yesterday. Shahid Afridi was initially named icon player for Nagenahira but, reportedly, was put back into the draft and picked up by Ruhuna. The reason for this is as yet unclear. Lasith Malinga is Ruhuna's icon player. The list is dominated by players from Australia (18) and Pakistan (13). Misbah-ul-Haq, who stepped down as Pakistan's Twenty20 captain in May and was not picked for the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka that followed, was picked up by Kandurata in the draft. Mohammad Hafeez, who replaced Misbah as Pakistan Twenty20 captain, was not on the list released by Sri Lanka Cricket.
West Indies fast bowler Jerome Taylor, who has not featured in top-level cricket since May 2011, was drafted by Ruhuna. The release made no mention of the salaries that the players will be paid. Sri Lanka's domestic players will be drafted today.
The franchises' overseas signings:
Uthura: Shakib Al Hasan, Brendan Taylor, Kevon Cooper, Imran Farhat, Fidel Edwards, David Miller, Dillon du Preez, Samuel Badree
Nagenahira: Mitchell Marsh, Imran Nazir, Travis Birt, Ahmed Shahzad, Ben Laughlin, Elias Sunny, Musfiqur Rahim, Nasir Hossain
Ruhuna: Shahid Afridi, Daniel Harris, Ryan Harris, Aaron Finch, Jerome Taylor, Nathan McCullum, Ryan McLaren, Richard Levi
Wayamba: Azhar Mahmood, Umar Akmal, Tamim Iqbal, Colin Ingram, Kemar Roach, James Faulkner, Abdul Razzaq, Brad Hogg
Kandurata: Saeed Ajmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Sohail Tanvir, Chris Lynn, Dane Vilas, Albie Morkel, Johan Botha, Adam Voges
Basnahira: Brad Hodge, Marlon Samuels, Daniel Smith, Dirk Nannes, Robin Peterson, Tim Southee, Clint McKay, Cameron Borgas
Uva: Andrew McDonald, Umar Gul, Shoaib Malik, Callum Ferguson, James Franklin, Abdur Rehman, Hammad Azam, Chris Gayle.