by Rex Clementine

Several fringe cricketers including retired star Russel Arnold, hard hitting opening batsman Avishka Gunawardene and left arm seamer Nuwan Zoysa showed interest in joining the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) series launched last week by India's World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev.

Speaking to 'The Island', the three cricketers expressed their desire to play in the lucrative Twenty-20 series which has attracted a host of present and past international stars including Brian Lara, Glen McGrath, Inzamam ul Haq and Mohammad Yousuf.

Of the trio, Arnold and Gunawardene have been already approached. Zoysa meanwhile said he would seriously consider playing in the well-paid tournament.

"The organisers spoke to me a week ago and I said I was interested. They are processing things out and will comeback to me next week. I would decide whether to go or not depending on what they offer me," Gunawardene, the explosive left-hander ideally suited for the shortest version of the sport told 'The Island'.

"I haven't played for the last 15 months or so for Sri Lanka and at the age of 30, I feel I've gots lot of cricket left in me," Gunawardene, who last represented the country in a one-day international in Christchurch in January 2006, said.

Arnold of course will be a high profile signing if he joins the ICL having played a crucial role in Sri Lanka's much successful World Cup campaign a few months back.

He returned home on Friday after a vacation in England, during which period he played a game for English club Lashings alongside former captain Marvan Atapattu, another player widely tipped to join the rebel series. Atapattu is still in England playing league cricket.

The left-handed middle order batsman turned up for his Alma Mater St. Peter's College against arch-rivals St. Joseph's College in the quadrangular cricket tournament between leading Catholic schools and admitted that he has been approached by the organisers of the tournament.

"I got calls from them when I returned home and I said that I must study the pros and cons of the tournament. There's still cricket left in me and I must see how it goes," the 33-year-old told 'The Island'.

Zoysa, the only Sri Lankan to have claimed a hat-trick of wickets in Test matches and only 29 said he has not been approached as yet but revealed that he would 'seriously consider' if ICL approaches him.

The players' reaction comes merely days after the high handed stance taken by Sri Lanka Cricket, who put out a strongly worded statement saying that it would ban all players joining the rebel series. SLC's stance looked even stronger than that of the Indian board, the most affected party on the issue as SLC said that it will even ban players from domestic cricket and of holding any positions in matters relating to the sport including commentaries and umpiring.

There has been much criticism over SLC's stance with some factions even going to the extent of calling local officials puppets in the hands of their Indian counterparts. It was pointed out that while SLC could prevent players contracted to the board from joining the league, it couldn't dictate terms to non-contracted players.

Gunawardene speaking out openly on the issue, said that he's not answerable to SLC. "I am not a contracted player and I am not answerable to anyone. It's my decision to join or not to join and I will do what I think is right," he said.

Gunawardene represented Sri Lanka in six Tests and 61 ODIs while Zoysa has featured in 30 Tests and 95 ODIs. Arnold has appeared in 44 Tests and 180 ODIs.