Star studded 50+ cricket tournament in Lanka
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Sajith Fernando
Six teams will be in fray for honours in the first 50+ International Cricket One Day Tournament which will begin on Tuesday in Sri Lanka.
Among the participants are Pakistan, two teams representing the United Kingdom, England North and England South and three teams representing Sri Lanka, namely Cavaliers, Blue Lions and Quadrangular.
The entire tour will has been planned with the tournament and other activities for the three teams from overseas from yesterday to next Monday.
The tournament will kick off on Tuesday with the first game between England South and Quadrangular at the SSC. From Wednesday to Sunday (February 28) two matches each will be played daily. The final will be played at the SSC on Monday, February 29.
In rest of the matches of the competition, England North will take on Blue Lions at Galle while Pakistan are set to meet the Cavaliers on Wednesday, February 24. On Thursday, England South will meet Blue Lions at Galle while Cavaliers will travel to Moratuwa to meet Quadrangular.
Pakistan and England North will battle on Friday at the CCC ground in the only match of the day. On Saturday, England North will meet England South at Pallekele followed by the battle between Cavaliers and Blue Lions at the CCC.
Sunday will be the final day for first round matches as Pakistan will take on Quadrangular at the NCC as the third place playoff is set to be played at the CCC ground. The tournament will wind up on Monday, February 29, with the final followed by the official dinner.
The tournament is organised by the 50+ Tournaments and England 50+ Counties together with the leading outbound sports and leisure agent in the United Kingdom, Paradise Sports Travel and Paradise Vacations.
All ground arrangements will be handled by Golden Isle Travels. Barbados and South Africa were considered as alternate destinations to stage this tournament, but it was shifted to Sri Lanka promising the opportunity to the island nation.
A number of the players in the UK squads are former county players like Mel Hussain (brother of Nasser Hussain, ex-England Captain), Tony Murphy, Andy Fothergill, Rajesh Sharma, Tony Dutton, Phil Catterall and Tony Birbeck.
In the UK squad are also two players who represented the famous England Police team, Graham Shaw and Duncan Watson. The Pakistan squad includes ex-national players Aamir Sohail, Akram Raza and Sajid Ali.
Aamir Sohail
The Sri Lankan teams too will consist of a number of ex-national players and club cricketers. The Sri Lankan teams taking part are the Quadrangular team, a combination of past cricketers of the four leading Catholic schools in the country – St. Anthony’s College Kandy, St. Joseph’s College Colombo, St. Peter’s College Colombo and St. Benedict’s College Colombo), Lanka Cavaliers and Blue Lions.
Players namely Sajith Fernando, HemanthaDevapriya, Priyantha Udayaratne, Charith Senanayake, Shanthilal Silva etc are taking part in this tournament. The matches will be held at SSC, Galle Stadium, Pallekele Stadium, P. Sara Sara, Surrey ground in Maggona, CCC, Colts and NCC.