Sudden climatic change forces domestic tournaments postponement

Rain interferes with SLC Major T20 match between CCC and Nugegoda SWC at Bloomfield grounds

• Quarter-finalists found in SLC Major T20 tournament
• Tournaments to recommence after Vesak

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The sudden climatic change has forced the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Tournament Committee to postpone all the ongoing tournaments till after Vesak.

The tournaments postponed are the SLC Major T20 which has reached the quarter-final stage, the Governor’s trophy and the Under 21 Tier B.

“Due to the bad weather the country is experiencing at the moment, we have decided to postpone all three ongoing tournaments till after Vesak,” said Tournament Committee Chairman Samantha Dodanwela yesterday. “We will announce the new dates after Vesak.”

Vesak takes place on 23 and 24 of May.

Meanwhile, the sudden change in the weather pattern has caught several clubs napping which has resulted in them failing to qualify for a place in the quarter-finals of the SLC Major T20 tournament.

Prominent among them is SSC who recently celebrated their 125th anniversary. Their shocking loss to Ace Capital CC put their qualifying chances on the line and with their final match against Negombo CC on Friday ending in a no-result due to bad weather, SSC finished third in Group C with the same number of points (3) as Tamil Union and Ace Capital CC but were ousted on a poor net run rate. Since winning the title in 2021, SSC has failed in the past three years to qualify for the knockout stage. 

Other notable clubs that failed to make the cut were Ragama CC, Police SC, Chilaw Marians CC and Panadura SC.

The final four group matches yesterday all ended in a no-result without a ball bowled due to bad weather. Thus, the final group qualifiers are: NCC and CCC (from Group A), Moors SC and BRC (Group B), Tamil Union and Ace Capitals CC (Group C) and Bloomfield and Colts (Group D).

Last year’s semi-finalists NCC, Colts, Moors SC and Ace Capitals CC have all made it to the quarter-finals.

Most interesting is that the finalists of last year NCC and Colts will meet each other in the first quarter-final. Last year the title was shared with the final being abandoned without a ball bowled due to bad weather.

The quarter-final line up:

NCC v Colts at SSC (9:45 am)

Bloomfield v CCC at SSC (2:45 pm)

Moors SC v Ace Capitals CC at NCC (9:45 am)

Tamil Union v BRC at NCC (2:45 pm)

The quarter-finals will take place after Vesak with the new dates to be announced by the Tournament Committee.