The fourth edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) will take place from July 31 to August 22 this year, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has confirmed. If it goes ahead as planned, this will be the first LPL season held in its originally scheduled July-August window.

Similar to last year, the five-team tournament will take place at three venues, likely to be Hambantota, Colombo and Kandy, with each squad comprising a maximum of 20 players - 14 local and six overseas players. The Jaffna Kings have won all three editions of the tournament so far.

"We have decided to hold the tournament during July and August this year, as conducting the tournament during this period gives us the best possible opportunity to attract top international talent and also suits well with Sri Lanka's international cricket calendar," LPL tournament director Samantha Dodanwela said.

However, the Major League Cricket tournament in the USA is set to run from July 13 to 30, and the Hundred in England is scheduled between August 1 and 27, and both those tournaments could impact overseas player availability in the LPL.

All three previous editions of the LPL had been postponed to November-December, having initially been slated for a July-August window. The inaugural edition in 2020 was impacted by strict Covid-19 restrictions in Sri Lanka at the time; in 2021, an increase in coronavirus cases combined with an unavailability of foreign stars due to scheduling clashes with other franchise leagues saw the tournament pushed to the end of the year; while last year, Sri Lanka was in the midst of a full blown economic crisis.