Sri Lankan players Muralitharan, Jayawardene, Dilshan, Matthews and Jayasuriya set to feature alongside Overseas Stars

ESPN Caribbean has secured rights for the first season of the Mahindra Sri Lanka Premier League cricket. All matches leading up to and including the finals will be available live, exclusively on ESPNPLay.com, ESPN Caribbean’s live broadband sports network. The semifinals on August 28th and 29th, and the final on August 31st, will also air live on the ESPN2 Caribbean TV network.

The Twenty20 competition features a total of 24 matches as seven teams representing the provinces of Sri Lanka compete in a round robin group stage, semi-finals and final between Saturday 11th and Friday 31st August.

The Mahindra SLPL is set to feature some of cricket’s biggest names—legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will appear alongside fellow Sri Lankans Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Matthews, as well as overseas stars including New Zealand’s Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum and Scott Styris, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, Misbah Ul Haque, Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul, West Indies’ Shiv Chanderpaul and Jerome Taylor, Australia’s Dirk Nannes, John Hastings, Andrew McDonald and Brad Hodge, and, South Africa's Loots Bosman.

An impressive line-up of former international players will form the presentation team on ESPN throughout the tournament. Former Australian stars Dean Jones and Jeff Thomson, ex-Pakistani batsman Rameez Raja, the West Indies’ Jeff Dujon, former Sri Lankan opening batsman Russel Arnold and his fellow countryman Roshan Abeysinghe will offer their insight and expertise.

Bernard Stewart, vice president and general manager, ESPN Caribbean and Maritime Media, said “The inaugural season of the Mahindra Sri Lanka Premier League cricket will feature some of the biggest stars in the sport. This is a great addition to our broadband programming lineup available on ESPNPlay.com and adds to our broad coverage of top cricket events across the region.”

Sri Lanka Premier League rights holder Somerset Entertainment Ventures’ chairman Sandiip Bhammer said the partnership was an exciting one. “ESPN is the ideal platform to take Sri Lanka’s message in respect of a seminal cricket tournament of this stature to the rest of the world, especially at the end of the 30 years war, and we’re very confident of, and proud to be associated with a channel of the caliber of ESPN which has such fantastic following within its respective territories.”

Live Sri Lanka Premier League Cricket on ESPN Caribbean:
--All times Eastern, schedule subject to change--
 
Date             Time                                       Game
Fri  8/17/12 6:25a WAYAMBA WOLVES v. UVA UNICORNS
Fri  8/17/12 10:25a BASNAHIRA BEARS v. NAGENAHIRA NAGAS
Sat  8/18/12 6:25a KANDURATA KITES v. UTHURA ORYXES
Sun  8/19/12 6:25a WAYAMBA WOLVES v. BASNAHIRA BEARS
Sun  8/19/12 10:25a UTHURA ORYXES v. UVA UNICORNS
Mon  8/20/12 6:25Aa KANDURATA KITES v. RUHUNA RHINOS
Mon  8/20/12 10:25a NAGENAHIRA NAGAS v. WAYAMBA WOLVES
Tues  8/21/12 6:25a RUHUNA RHINOS v. UVA UNICORNS
Tues  8/21/12 10:25a UTHURA ORYXES v. BASNAHIRA BEARS
Fri  8/24/12 10:25a WAYAMBA WOLVES v. KANDURATA KITES
Sat  8/25/12 6:25a BASNAHIRA BEARS v. RUHUNA RHINOS
Sat  8/25/12 10:25a KANDURATA KITES v. UVA UNICORNS
Sun  8/26/12 4:25a NAGENAHIRA NAGAS v. UTHURA ORYXES
Sun  8/26/12 10:25a RUHUNA RHINOS v. WAYAMBA WOLVES
Mon  8/27/12 10:25a UVA UNICORNS v. NAGENAHIRA NAGAS
Tues  8/28/12 10:25a SEMINFINAL 1*
Wed  8/29/12 10:25a SEMIFINAL 2*
Fri  8/31/12 10:25a FINAL*
* Also airs on the ESPN2 Caribbean network


About ESPN Caribbean
ESPN Caribbean is part of ESPN International, a division of ESPN, Inc. ESPN International has grown to include ownership —in whole or in part— of 48 television networks outside of the United States, as well as a variety of brand extension businesses, which allow ESPN to reach fans in over 200 countries and territories. ESPN Caribbean business entities include two television networks ESPN Caribbean and ESPN 2 Caribbean, radio, Internet, broadband, wireless and special events.