The Youth Cricket Tournament (Under 19) organized by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) will be conducted as scheduled and will get underway on September 15.

The tournament is running into a mess as some of the leading schools are contemplating pulling out as they disagree with the scheduled format saying it was controversial and clashed with traditional games they have been playing with schools for several years.

Asoka Senani Hewage President of the SLSCA along with his secretary Dilshan de Silva and the committee members brushed aside these allegations and are adamant to continue even if some of the schools pull out of the contest.

“All schools should abide with the governing body and they cannot go beyond that,” said Hewage. Continuing he said: “According to what I feel is, some of the documents which I saw have not been signed by the principals and, so far, no school has officially informed me of pulling out.”

Hewage stated that they have given them the opportunity of continuing with their traditional big matches or whatever other games so that it will not clash with the competition. But it seems that there is not going to be any reconciliation as the teams who are planning to pull out are also adamant saying that the format has definitely put them in a spot of bother which the SLSCA officials don’t seem to understand.

The tournament involves 32 teams divided into four groups of eight teams in each. Thus the teams will have to play seven matches which are compulsory. The president was adamant whether there is quality or not that they will promote teams from the lower divisions to replace teams who will be pulling out. “We have nearly 150 teams around the island and it will give them an opportunity for lesser known schools to brush shoulders with elite schools.”

The competition will be played in three divisions with four teams being promoted and demoted from either division after the conclusion of the event. Consideration for the national awards like the best batsman, bowler, fielder and all rounder will be recorded on score sheets of only 16 matches. “We have to do this because some players achieve 1000 runs or 100 wickets after playing over 20 matches,” said Hewage.

The Youth cricket tournament champions will be selected or decided only from the seven matches which have been made compulsory to play. The SLSCA has decided that if any school does not participate in the competition, they will be demoted next year.

Apart from the Youth tournament the SLSCA is also planning to conduct a limited over tournament and 20/20 tournament which is scheduled to be held among school teams.

Thirty two teams will be contesting in these two tournaments with 18 teams from the Division One, 10 teams from Division Two and the remaining four being selected from the lower division.

The president of the SLSCA further stated that the tournament will be stopped temporally after February 15 2009, as Sri Lanka Cricket plans to conduct the Provincial Tournament to select the junior national squad.

He also admitted that he respected the traditional big matches as these are being conducted at a high level in Sri Lanka. So during the stoppage the respective schools could play their annual encounters.
But the teams who are contemplating to pull out say according to the format they will probably have to play their big match rivals twice which is an absurd situation. They say, for example, most of the teams that play traditional matches like St. Joseph’s, St. Sebastian’s, St. Benedict’s, Wesley, Ananda, Mahinda and Royal are in one group. The respective teams have been playing against each for over four to five decades and some for over 100 years. Some of the officials of the breakaway group speaking in anonymity to The Sunday Times said that it is a sad situation as some of the SLSCA officials spoke negatively saying:Play or quit..

Some of the coaches of these teams said that they too are not in favour of this format but they cannot say anything as it’s a matter to be settled between the parties concerned.

If there is no settlement to the issue the ultimate losers will be the boys playing cricket as they will not be considered for selection to the junior national team or for any awards.

According to the president of the SLSCA, the Ministry of Education and the L.K. Jayaweera the Director of Sports has recommended their efforts but the breakaway group says that they are hearing only one side of a story. .

“They have not been given the true picture and we intend to inform them by letters which will be sent to the Ministry of Education, Director of Sports, President Mahinda Rajapakse, D.S. de Silva, advisor to the president cum consultant SLC and Dilshan de Silva, secretary SLSCA,” said Hewage
When The Sunday Times spoke to D.S. de Silva for his views he said this was news to him. “Two days ago we had a discussion regarding the Under 15 and 17 categories but not the said Under 19 tournament,” said DS.

With junior cricket being the cradle for producing future national cricketers all supporters of cricket in Sri Lanka hope that the two parties will get their negotiations straightened out. If not the ultimate loser will be the schoolboy cricketers whose efforts will be in vain.

The scheduled groups:
Division One – Group ‘A’ – St. Joseph’s, St. Sebastian’s, St. Benedict’s, Wesley, Ananda, Lumbini, Mahinda, Royal. ‘B’ – DSS, Isipathana, Nalanda, St. Sylvester’s, President’s Rajagiriya, Trinity, Dharmaraja, Dharmapala. ‘C’ – St Anne’s K’gala, S. Thomas’, Kingswood, Richmond, Dharmasoka Ambalangoda, Thurstan, Prince of Wales, St. Anthony’s Katugastota. ‘D’ – St. Aloysius Galle, Maris Stella, Revatha MMV, Kalutara MV, Joseph Vaz, Maliyadeva, St. Peter’s, De Mazenod.
Division Two – Group ‘A’ – Ananda Sastralaya Kotte, Asoka MV, Moratu MV, Karandeniya Central, Gurukula MV, St Thomas Matale, Tissa MMV, Sri Rahula K’tota. ‘B’ – St John’s Nugegoda, Sri Jayawardenapura MMV, Mahanama Colombo, Carey, Vidyartha, St Anthony’s Wattala, Ibbagamuwa Central, St. Mary’s Kegalle. ‘C’ – Taxila Central Horana, Zahira Colombo, Sri Sumangala Panadura, Sri Devananda A’goda, Royal Panadura, Sri Dharmaloka Kelaniya, Bandaranayake MV Gampaha, St Servatius Matara. ‘D’ – Piliyandala MMV, Siri Piyaratana MMV, Rahula Matara, St Thomas Matara, Holy Cross Kalutara, Kegalu MV, St Xavier’s Marawila, P’ de S. Kularatne MV Ambalangoda.