Sri Lanka cricket’s crisis over the timing of the England tour which clashes with the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year deepened on Saturday with the interim administration and several key players in the team refusing to budge an inch from their positions.

Despite reports that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) wanted to go ahead with the England tour with the best players, several key players in the team have stood their ground on their commitments to play in the IPL, forcing intervention from sports minister Gamini Lokuge.

A top SLC official said that the initiatives by the minister to hold ‘compromise talks’ with the administrators and the players ‘is yet to provide a breakthrough’.

“Efforts have been made to find a solution to this over the past two months. The players have completed two series after the crisis (Asia Cup tournament and the tour by India). But a solution is yet to be reached,” the SLC official said on Friday.

The sports minister has appointed SLC CEO Duleep Mendis to work out a solution. When contacted, Mendis said he was hoping to meet the players next week to find a compromise, but stressed that there was no way that Sri Lanka could send a second-level team for the proposed England tour.

“We have to send the best team for the England tour. I will have to come out with suggestions on how best we could solve this problem,” Mendis said on Saturday.

Sri Lanka are due to play two Tests and three one-dayers in England next May. The time table clashes with the 2009 IPL.