Top cricket faces another postponement
The three-day domestic Premier League Cricket Tournament which is scheduled to be worked off from January 9 could see a postponement due to the presidential election which is scheduled for the previous day.
Premier Cricket action will unveil from next weekend - File pic
But the 14 teams that will be contesting are all busy fine tuning their players for the league tournament undergoing strenuous training. The Premier limited over tournament which ushered the domestic tournament saw Colts dethrone defending champions SSC whom they defeated in the final to clinch the title.
Defending champions NCC will be seeking to retain the title for yet another year and they are in Group ‘A’ along with Colts, Bloomfield, Tamil Union, Ragama CC, Air Force SC and Badureliya CC.
The teams in Group ‘B’ are Moors SC, CCC, SSC, Chilaw Marians, Army SC, SLPA CC and Saracens SC who has been promoted to the top division.
Most of the teams have selected their captains with defending champions NCC being led by Upul Tharanga SSC being led by Thilina Kandamby for Dimuth Karunaratne, Ragama CC – Lahiru Thirimanne who will be deputised by Udara Jayasundara, Army SC – Asela Gunaratne, Tamil Union – Jeewan Mendis, CCC – Hasantha Fernando, Saracens SC – Upul Indrasiri and Badureliya CC – Milinda Siriwardena.
Upul Tharanga who led NCC last year has again been retained as the captain while for Colts, Nuwan Kulasekera will deputise for Angelo Mathews. Ashan Priyanjan will lead SLPA CC, Bloomfield – Suraj Randiv, Moors SC – Dilhara Lokuhettige, Air Force – Achira Eranga and Chilaw Marians – Sahan Wijeratne.
Most of the teams will also be missing their top players who are representing the Sri Lanka national team in the ongoing New Zealand cricket tour. The defending champions NCC will be the most hit as they will be sans Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella, Tharindu Kaushal,, Dushmantha Chameera and Lasith Malinga.
SSC will go into the tournament without their skipper Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Prasanna Jayawardena, Dhammika Prasad, Thisara Perera and Sachithra Senanayake who both have included in the Sri Lanka ODI team. Colts’ Angelo Mathews, Dilruwan Perera and Nuwan Kulasekera who have been included in the Sri Lanka ODI team, Tamil Union’s Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Jeewan Mendis and Ragama CC’s Lahiru Thirimanne would also miss the tournament. Apart from NCC and Moors SC who ended up as runners-up the teams that would be in contention are SSC, Colts and Ragama CC. Army SC who had a successful stint last year will be looking forward to put a better performance this time.
But it’s going to be an acid test for newcomers Saracens SC who came into the top division at the expense of Panadura SC whom they defeated in the relegation encounter.
Saracens SC in the recent past has had tremendous success and has been knocking at the door with some scintillating performances. They won the Emerging team trophy and also had a fine record in the Sara Trophy tournament.
However there is a doubt that the tournament could start on schedule due to the presidential election which is due to be held on January 8. The tournament will start with six matches down for decision. Defending champions NCC will confront Air Force SC at the NCC grounds.
The other schedule matches are Colts vs Ragama CC at Colts, Tamil Union vs Bloomfield at P. Sara Stadium, Moors SC vs SLPA CC at Braybrooke Place, Army SC vs CCC at Panagoda and SSC vs Chilaw Marians at SSC.
The team captains:
Group ‘A’: NCC – Upul Tharanga; Colts – Nuwan Kulasekera; Bloomfield – Suraj Randiv; Tamil Union – Jeewan Mendis; Ragama CC – Udara Jayasundara for Lahiru Thirimanne; Air Force SC – Achira Eranga; Badureliya CC – Milinda Siriwardena.
Group ‘B’: Moors SC – Dilhara Lokuhettige; CCC – Hasantha Fernando; SSC – Thilina Kandamby for Dimuth Karunaratne; Chilaw Marians – Sahan Wijeratne; Army SC – Asela Gunaratne; SLPA CC – Ashan Priyanjan; Saracens SC – Upul Indrasiri. – MSA