Cricket: Premier limited overs cricket kick off next Friday

The rescheduled Inter-Club Premier Limited Overs Cricket Tournament organised by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) begins next Friday with the game between Colombo Cricket Club and Sri Lanka Ports Authority at Maitland Crescent. 

The tournament, sponsored by AIA Insurance for the first time, will feature 45 games including the two semi-finals and the final, which falls on December 30. 

However the tournament will not include some of the top players, who will be on national duty in New Zealand and eight players -- seven centrally-contracted and one non-contracted -- who have signed up with the Bangladesh Premier League, which runs from November 22 to December 15. 

The centrally-contracted players who are likely to miss out the AIA Premier Limited Overs Tournament are Jeevan Mendis, Ajantha Mendis, TM Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake and Seekkuge Prasanna while Dilshan Munaweera, who turns out for Bloomfield, is the non-contract player. 

The tournament was initially scheduled to begin on November 20 but due to the prevailing weather condition it was put off by a week according to the Head of Tournament Committee, Ravi de Silva. 

“We took to the account the present weather condition and decided to postpone the tournament by a week. There will be no changes however from the now confirmed schedule,” De Silva told reporters at the launch of the tournament last Wednesday (18). 

However if the unpredictable weather pattern persists during the five-week period SLC has not come out with reserve dates, even for the crucial semi-finals and the final. 

The two semi-finals are scheduled for December 23 and 24 followed by the final on December 30. 

“We will definitely discuss this matter as the tournament moves on and see if there is any need to include reserve days. If the rain continues we will certainly make certain alterations,” he added.

The sponsors, AIA, affirmed that three of the matches – the two semi-finals and the final – will be televised live on television.

Speaking at the launch, the Chief Executive Officer of AIA, Shah Rouf elaborated that his establishment’s commitment is to help protect and uplift cricket in Sri Lanka, despite the Limited Overs Tournament being a less crowd puller. 

The tournament will feature 14 top clubs with seven each slotted into two groups. 

The teams are set to play a round-robin stage after wherein the two teams to top each group advance to the semi-finals. 

The 14 clubs in fray are with Colts, Ragama CC, Nondescripts CC, Colombo CC, Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA), Saracens SC and Tamil Union in Group ‘A’ playing against Sinhalese SC, Moors SC, Army SC, Bloomfield, Badureliya SC, Chilaw Marians and Galle CC in Group ‘B’. 

Colts, who beat SSC last season, are the title defenders.