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Commenting about the sponsorship Bharti Airtel Lanka CEO/MD Suren Goonewardene said, “As an organisation, Airtel Lanka is always looking for new ways of being relevant to our target group – creating life enriching moments, and thereby enriching lives. We believe that sports provide the ideal platform to achieve this and what better way of promoting dynamic and positive energy than through the game of Cricket – the gentlemen’s game that is passionately played by the youth of our country. We also recognise the MCA as an association not only contributing immensely to the development of the game of cricket in the island, but even more importantly the contribution they make to keeping the game alive at high standards with the involvement of the corporate sector. While we believe that through this association, we have not only positioned ourselves as a leading supporter of Mercantile sports but also believe that sports development as it plays a key role in the development of future leaders and role models thus creating a progressive corporate community in Sri Lanka.”
The MCA will conduct this year’s T20 Tournament in two segments. While some of the national cricketers will be participating in the Premier ‘A’ segment, players representing the MCA ‘D to G’ divisions consisting of more than 200 teams will play in the ‘B’ division. This would give experienced players and newcomers an equal opportunity to excel and even gain National recognition as MCA tournaments are closely monitored by National selectors.
Commenting on the new partnership with Airtel Lanka, MCA President Ashley Ratnayake noted, “It is indeed a privilege for the MCA to partner-up with a large corporate like Airtel Lanka – an organisation that has contributed tremendously for the development of sports both in Sri Lanka and abroad. With this partnership the MCA will be able to take cricket to the next level and we thank Mr. Suren Goonewardene a Cricket enthusiast himself for his ready agreement to come forward and be a part of the development activities of the MCA.”
The tier ‘A’ tournament is scheduled to begin on 2 May 2014, with all top notch teams featured in the Premier ‘A’ segment billed to take part including many Players from the national pool. The Teams will take the field in coloured clothing and all matches will be played using white balls. The quarter finals are scheduled to be played on 2 May at the MCA and Bloomfield grounds. The Semi-finals will be on 3 May with the Finals scheduled to be played at MCA on the 4 May 2014. All matches will be played on Turf wickets and played to the latest ICC rules and regulations with the finest match officials in the country already assigned to cover all the matches. The final of the Premier ‘A’ Division is also billed to be shown live on TV for the benefit and enjoyment of all cricket lovers in the country. The Tier ‘B’ tournament consisting the winners and runners-up of the ‘D, E, F and G’ divisions will be scheduled to be played in August/September after the completion of the ‘F and G’ divisions which are currently in progress.
Both tournaments will feature trophies for the winners, runners-up, Man of the Tournament, Man of the Final, Best Bowler, Best Batsman and a special award for the Most Disciplined Player. In the inaugural tournament held last year which was limited only to Tier ‘A’, Sampath Bank came out as winners beating HNB in the grand finale at the NCC grounds.
