Twenty one teams on show for Merc Div ‘D’ tourney
View(s):The sponsorship presentation of the 13th Ceylon Cold Stores PLC sponsored, ‘Elephant House Lemonade’ Trophy MCA ‘D’ division 40-Over League Tournament 2016 is now in progress was held at the MCA Pavilion Lounge.
The CCS sponsorship is the 3rd longest running MCA Sponsorship, having commenced in 2003.
In 2015 the Elephant House Lemonade Trophy was severed by McLarens Group, who beat HSBC ‘A’ by 31 runs in the Final played at the MCA grounds on March 28.
This year the 21 teams who are vying for the E.H. Lemonade Trophy are:
Hemas Group, Kanrich Finance ‘B’ United Tobacco Industries, Softlogic Holdings, Commercial Leasing Co., Dialog Axiata ‘A’ and NDB Bank (all playing in Group A); Brumby’s International, Bodyline (Pvt) Ltd., Central Finance, Delmage Group, Expolanka Group, Hilton Colombo Residences and Commercial Credit & Finance ‘B’ (all playing in Group ‘B’); Aitken Spence PLC, Asian Alliance Finance, Ceylinco Insurance, David Pieris Motor Co. Ltd., Vallibel Finance, Nations Trust Bank ‘B’ and AMW Group (all playing in Group C)The tournament consisting 70 matches will be conducted in two stages – the ‘League’ and the ‘Knock-out’.
The League Stage Matches which got off to a start on January 16 will conclude on February 28 featuring 63 matches, spread around 10 selected venues, namely, MCA, Army Mattegoda, Malay CC, Slave Island, Thurstan College, St. John’s Panadura, D.S. Senanayake College, Veyangoda Central, St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, Wesley College, Campbell Park and NSCA Ratmalana.
At the completion of the league round, the first two teams from the three groups and the best two 3rd Placed teams from the three groups will advance to the quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals are scheduled for March 5th and 6th; the Semi Finals on March 13 (Reserve day 14th March) and the Final on March 19 at the MCA Grounds.
All 70 matches will be supervised by a MCA appointed Match Referee.
The Official Ball is the ‘Gray’s Avenger’ directly imported from Pakistan, engraved with the MCA Logo.
The D&L method will be used to calculate the revised target for all interrupted matches.
The Officiating Umpires are assigned from the Association of Professional Cricket Umpires (APCU); The Officiating scorers, who will be in charge of the D&L method, will be assigned from Sri Lanka Scorers.
The four special awards on offer are – Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Man of the Tournament and Man of the Final.
– LR