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Dec 27, 2010

Club Premier L/O matches begin tomorrow

By M Naushad Amit

The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Inter-Club Premier Limited Over (L/O)) cricket tournament, which had to be postponed twice due to the unexpected heavy rains during the last couple of months, will begin tomorrow (December 27).

However after three weeks of sunshine, Colombo and the suburbs are experiencing overcast conditions again just days away from the commencement of the Premier L/O cricket season. Ravi de Silva, the Chairman, Tournament Committee of SLC expressing his views on the twice postponed domestic cricket tournament told The Nation that the organisers are keen to proceed with the competition despite the unpredictable weather.

“The Premier L/O tournament was expected to begin in the first week of December but the weather conditions then prevented the commencement of the competition. We were compelled to postpone the tournament by two weeks but the ground conditions of few venues were not up to the standards we expected. The weather looked fine for the next few weeks but during the past few days the rains came down again to hamper the proceedings”.

“As at present the weather is not really supportive for cricket but we are really keen to go ahead with the tournament. We have no intention to postpone or delay the tournament for any reason now as we find it difficult to adjust with the timing left for the ICC Cricket World Cup which is also to be held in Sri Lanka as a co-host nation,” de Silva said.

With the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka cut short soon after a washed out 3-match Test series and a re-scheduled five-match One Day International series for January 2011 the much anticipated tournament which is the top in the club cricket calendar of SLC is expected to serve as a platform for Sri Lanka’s national cricketers’ preparations prior to the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup in February 2011 as well.

This year’s Premier L/O tournament will proceed at a rapid pace in order to give room for the all important Inter-Provincial L/O tournament and the re-scheduled ODI series of the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka which will be played during the fourth week of January. The domestic tournament which begins tomorrow will end by January 9 with the finals of Tier ‘A’ and ‘B’ at unconfirmed venues in Colombo. The matches of Tier ‘A’ and ‘B’ are planned to a tight schedule with players finding hardly a space to breathe in-between.

“Before planning the L/O and League tournaments for the 2010/11 season we coordinated with the local Meteorology Department and studied its reports of the past five years. According to the survey never in history has Sri Lanka experienced a rainy season during this time of the year namely the first half of December. The tournaments were planned after carefully studying the weather patterns as it had to be completed before the ICC Cricket World Cup deadline. As at now it will be difficult to re-schedule the whole tournament again because of the current weather scenario. The competition has to go on despite whatever Mother Nature has in store for us,” de Silva added.

This year’s Premier L/O tournament will consist of 51 matches in two segments. The tournament will kick off with defending Premier L/O champions Tamil Union taking on the League champs and last season’s L/O runners-up Chilaw Marians at P Sara Oval with four other matches in Tier ‘A’ to be played in Colombo. Four Tier ‘B’ matches will also be played tomorrow.

Premier Tier A

Group A: Tamil Union, Chilaw Marians, CCC, NCC, Badureliya CC, Lankan CC
Group B: SSC, Colts, Bloomfield, Ragama CC, Saracens

Schedule:

DateMatchVenue
Dec 27Tamil Union v Chilaw MariansP Sara Oval
NCC v CCCNCC
Lankan CC v Badureliya CCMoratuwa
Colts v SSCColts
Ragama CC v BloomfieldThurstan Complex
Dec 30CCC v Tamil UnionCCC
Chilaw Marians v Lankan CCKatunayake
Badureliya CC v NCCNCC
Bloomfield v SSCSSC
Saracens v ColtsColts
Dec 31NCC v Tamil UnionNCC
Badureliya CC v Chilaw MariansPanadura
CCC v Lankan CCCCC
SSC v Ragama CCSSC
Saracens v BloomfieldReid Avenue
JAN 02Tamil Union v Lankan CCP Sara Oval
CCC v Badureliya CCCCC
NCC v Chilaw MariansNCC
SSC v SaracensSSC
Colts v Ragama CCColts
JAN 04Tamil Union v Badureliya CCP Sara Oval
Chilaw Marians v CCCKatunayake
Lankan CC v NCCNCC
Bloomfield v ColtsReid Avenue
Ragama CC v SaracensThurstan Complex


Semi-finals:

Jan 6: Winner of Group A v Runner-up of Group B
Jan 7: Winner of Group B v Runner-up of Group A

Final: Jan 9

Premier Tier B

Group A: Panadura SC, Police SC, Air Force SC, Navy SC, Moors SC
Group B: Seeduwa/Raddoluwa CC, BRC, Singha SC, Antonian SC, Army SC

Schedule:

DateMatchVenue
Dec 27Police SC v Panadura SCPolice Park
Navy SC v Air Force SCWelisara
BRC v Seeduwa/Raddoluwa CCBRC
Antonian SC v Singha SCKadirana
Dec 30Panadura SC v Air Force SCPanadura
Moors SC v Police SCBraybrooke Place
Seeduwa/Raddoluwa CC v Singha SCThurstan Complex
BRC v Army SCBRC
Dec 31Singha SC v Army SCPanagoda
Panadura SC v Navy SCWelisara
Air Force SC v Moors SCBraybrooke Place
Seeduwa/Raddoluwa CC v Antonian SCThurstan Complex
JAN 02Moors SC v Panadura SCBraybrooke Place
Police SC v Navy SCPolice Park
Army SC v Seeduwa/Raddoluwa CCPanagoda
Antonian SC v BRCBRC
JAN 04Air Force SC v Police SCRifle Green
Navy SC v Moors SCWelisara
Singha SC v BRCBRC
Army SC v Antonian SCPanagoda


Semi-finals:

Jan 6: Winner of Group A v Runner-up of Group B
Jan 7: Winner of Group B v Runner-up of Group A

Final: Jan 9

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