The Premier domestic cricket tournament, which has been dragging for sometime, will at last come into action with the Premier limited over competition scheduled to be worked off from December 9 in venues around the metropolis. The tournament this time around will be contested by 20 teams, a notable increase from the ten who competed [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Twenty teams in the fray for Premier limited over title

Premier Cricket
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The Premier domestic cricket tournament, which has been dragging for sometime, will at last come into action with the Premier limited over competition scheduled to be worked off from December 9 in venues around the metropolis.

The tournament this time around will be contested by 20 teams, a notable increase from the ten who competed last year in Tier ‘A’ and ‘B’.

The new format will see nine teams from the lower category- Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), Saracens SC, CCC, Panadura SC, Kurunegala YCC (KYCC), Navy, Army Air Force and BRC along with Galle CC- being included with the top teams.

The 20 teams have been divided into two groups comprising ten in each. Group ‘A’ consists of NCC, who are the defending champions of the limited over tournament, Colts, Tamil Union, Moors, Badureliya CC, SLPA, Saracens SC, CCC, Panadura SC and KYCC.
Group ‘B’ comprises SSC, last year’s runner up, Chilaw Marians, Bloomfield, Lankan CC, Ragama CC, Navy, Army, Air Force, BRC and Galle CC.

However, it’s going to be tough for the ten teams that have been included as they will have to be at their best or else find themselves being demoted in the next season to a lower group. According to reliable sources six teams will be demoted next season.

Defending limited over champions, NCC will no doubt strive to gain their lost prestige as they had a disappointing league season during which they were on the verge of being demoted to the lower division.

Upul Tharanga, who was not available for most of last season, has been retained to lead the NCC side this season too. Tharanga will

National player Upul Tharanga leads the defending champions NCC this year too.

have the services of all the players who served him last season.

SSC too have retained Thilina Kandamby as their captain while Colts will be led by Sajeewa Weerakoon. Colts have lost two players in Dilruwan Perera and Chathura Peiris, who have joined Panadura SC. But they have not taken on any new additions.

Tamil Union will be spearheaded by Sachithra Serasinghe while Dilhara Lokuhettige will steer Moors. Sahan Wijeratne leads Badureliya CC which will be one of the sides to take note of this year.

Sameera Soysa has been given the mantle to lead Ragama CC, SLPA, Saracens SC, KYCC, CCC and Panadura SC will be led by Shantha Kalavitigoda, Mohamed Aslam, Anuruddha Rajapakse, Dinuk Hettiarachchi and Tharaka Silva respectively.

Bloomfield, led by Sanjaya Gangodawila, too will miss some of their top players with Chinthaka Jayasinghe being the main loss. Sachith Pathirana will lead Chilaw Marians, Ragama CC will have Sameera Soysa as their captain and Chanaka Wijesinghe has been given the responsibility of guiding Lankan CC.

The other five teams- Army, Navy, Air Force, BRC and Gall CC- are newcomers to the top division. Manjula de Soysa, Ranil Rasanga, Raju Gayashan, Nimesh Perera jnr and veteran Anil Ridigammanagedera are the captains of these five teams.Defending champions NCC, Colts, Tamil Union, Moors, Badureliya CC, SLPA, Saracens SC, CCC, Panadura SC and KYCC will contest in Group A while SSC, Chilaw Marians, Bloomfield, Lankan CC, Ragama CC, Navy, Army, Air Force, BRC and Galle CC are the teams in Group B.

The tournament gets underway on December 9 and the scheduled matches for the day are Group A – Badureliya CC vs CCC at Maggona, Moors vs KYCC at Braybrooke Place, NCC vs Colts at NCC, SLPA vs Panadura SC at Colts, Tamil Union vs Saracens SC at P. Sara Stadium. The Group B matches are Chilaw Marians vs SSC at SSC, Galle CC vs Lankan CC at Galle, Ragama CC vs Air Force at Reid Avenue, Army vs Bloomfield at Panagoda and Navy vs BRC at Welisara.

The semi finals are scheduled to be played on December 29 and 30 while the final is slotted to be played on January 5. The venues for these three matches have not been confirmed yet.-(MSA)




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