Schools cricket to get underway next month
The Limited Overs tournament will be played with white clothing and red ball
The much looked forward to Under-19 inter-schools cricket season has received the green light with the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) having finalised all arrangements to conduct the tournament from March.
The confirmation letter of approval from the Ministry of Education is expected to be issued in the near future and the SLSCA has drawn up a revised schedule to be conducted from March 15 onward. The tournament will be played in a new playing format and in place of the traditional two-day encounters, they have planned to conduct a 50-over tournament.
The league stage of the tournament will get underway from March 15 and is expected to end during the fourth week of April. Each team will have to play five matches in the league segment which have to be completed by April 10.
After the completion of the league stage, the knockouts is schedule to begin followed by quarter-final encounters on April 20, semi-finals from April 25 and the final on April 30. The league matches are scheduled to be played in school grounds agreed by the two participating teams while the knockout stage matches will be played on neutral grounds.
The Division I and II teams will see 36 schools in the fray divided into six groups.
The Division III tournament will be played in two segments, as Level I and II. A total of 57 teams will be in action which will be divided into ten groups. The top two teams of each group will qualify to play in the knockout stage in all tournaments.
Last year the Inter-School Cricket Tournament came to a halt while the SLSCA was preparing to conduct the quarter-final matches. It was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
The SLSCA, this year, was compelled to postpone the tournament and the decision to conduct a 50-over tournament was decided to be played after the completion of the GCE Ordinary Level examinations which is scheduled to end by March 13.