Focus on U19 World Cup players as Major Club Emerging tourney begins

• Winning team will receive Rs. 500,000, runner-up team Rs. 300,000

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The spotlight will be on the Sri Lanka Under-19 World Cup cricketers when the Major Club Emerging three-day tournament commences today at nine venues across the country.

Out of the 17-strong squad that travelled to the Caribbean, 15 players have joined the 26 clubs that will be competing in the tournament that will run for the next two months ending with the final scheduled from 22-24 April.

Dunith Wellalage, the Sri Lanka U19 World Cup skipper who was the star performer for the side, has joined Colts along with team mate Vinuja Ranpul while vice captain Raveen de Silva has gone to Tamil Union.

The rest of the U19 World Cup squad have joined the following clubs:

•  SSC – Shevon Daniel, Treveen Mathew, Sadisha Rajapaksa and Chamindu Wickramasinghe
•  NCC – Sadeesh Jayawardena, Matheesha Pathirana and Wanuja Sahan
•  CCC – Anjala Bandara and Pawan Pathiraja
•  Nugegoda S&WC – Abisheak Liyanaarachchi
•  Ace Capital CC – Sakuna Liyanage
•  Lankan CC – Yasiru Rodrigo

This tournament is the next stepping stone for the under-19 cricketers to work their way towards gaining a national cap. The Tournament Committee under the chairmanship of Samantha Dodanwela has drawn up a pathway for the budding cricketers to attain the highest level in the sport. 

The Major Club Emerging three-day tournament is more or less restricted to players under 24 years of age with each of the 26 clubs allowed to field two players between the ages of 24 and 28.

From the Major Club Emerging three-day tournament the next step for the cricketers is to represent their clubs in the Major Inter-Club tournaments and then gain selection for the National Super League tournaments, which is the benchmark for selection to the national teams.

The 26 clubs of the Major Club Emerging three-day tournament have been divided into four groups where the leaders of the four groups will meet in the semi-finals on 1-3 April and 8-10 April. The final will be played after the New Year from 22-24 April with the champion team receiving Rs. 500,000 and the runner-up team Rs. 300,000. There are individual cash prizes for Player of the Tournament, Best Batsman and Best Bowler.

The groupings:

•  Group A: SSC, CCC, Moors SC, Lankan CC, Navy SC, Air Force SC, and Sebastianites
•  Group B: NCC, Chilaw Marians CC, Negombo CC, Saracens SC, Kurunegala YCC, and Bloomfield
•  Group C: Tamil Union, Ragama CC, Badureliya SC, Panadura SC, Police SC, and Nugegoda S&WC
•  Group D: Colts, BRC, Army SC, Ace Capital CC, Kandy Customs SC, Galle CC, and Kalutara TC

The tournament commences today with a card of nine matches – SSC v Sebastianites at SSC, Air Force SC v CCC at Katunayake, Moors SC v Navy SC at Moors, NCC v Bloomfield at NCC, Chilaw Marians CC v Kurunegala YCC at R. Premadasa Stadium, Panadura SC v Badureliya SC at Panadura, Kalutara TC v Colts at Surrey Village, Maggona, BRC v Galle CC at BRC and, Kandy Customs SC v Army SC at Panagoda.