Elephant House Lemonade Trophy gets under way

Elephant House Head of Beverages and John Keells Holdings Vice President, Daminda Gamlath, (third from left) handing over the sponsorship to the MCA President Niran Mahawatte (third from right). Others in the picture from left: EH Beverages Senaior Brand Manager Nadeena Fernando,  Elephant House Head of Sales, and John Keells Holdings, Assistant Vice President, Wasanthalal Fernando,  MCA General Secretar Nalin Wickramasinghe and MCA/Tournament Committee Chairman Sujeewa de Silva

The 13th Elephant House Lemonade Trophy MCA ‘D’ division 40-Over League Tournament 2016, sponsored by Ceylon Cold Stores Plc, is now firmly under way.

The CCS sponsorship is the third longest running MCA sponsorship, having commenced in 2003.

In 2015, the Elephant House Lemonade Trophy was secured by the McLarens Group, who beat HSBC ‘A’ by 31 runs in the final played at the MCA grounds on 28 March.

This year the 21 teams that are vying for the E.H. Lemonade Trophy are Hemas Group, Kanrich Finance ‘B’ United Tobacco Industries, Softlogic Holdings, Commercial Leasing Co., Dialog Axiata ‘A’ and NDB Bank, all of whom are playing in Group ‘A’. 

Brumby’s International, Bodyline Ltd., Central Finance, Delmage Group, Expolanka Group, Hilton Colombo Residences and Commercial Credit and Finance ‘B’ will be playing in Group ‘B’. Aitken Spence Plc, Asian Alliance Finance, Ceylinco Insurance, David Pieris Motor Ltd., Vallibel Finance, Nations Trust Bank ‘B’ and the AMW Group are all playing in Group ‘C’

The tournament consists of 70 matches which will be played on a league and knockout basis.

The league stage matches, which will begin on 16 January, will conclude on 28 February and will comprise 63 matches spread across 10 selected venues, namely the MCA, Army Mattegoda, Malay CC, Slave Island, Thurstan College, St. John’s Panadura, D.S. Senanayake College, Veyangoda Central, St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, Wesley College, Campbell Park and NSCA Ratmalana.

Upon completion of the league round, the first two teams from the three groups and the best two third-placed teams from the three groups will advance to the quarterfinals. 

The quarterfinals are scheduled to be played on 5 and 6 March; the semifinals on 13 March  (Reserve day 14 March) and the finals on  19 March at the MCA Grounds.

All 70 matches will be supervised by a MCA-appointed match referee. 

The official ball is the Gray’s Avenger, which is imported from Pakistan and engraved with the MCA logo. 

The D&L Method will be used to calculate the revised target for all interrupted matches. 

The officiating umpires will be assigned by the Association of Professional Cricket Umpires (APCU). The officiating scorers, who will be in charge of implementing the D&L method, will be assigned by Sri Lanka Scorers.  

The four special awards on offer will be for the Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Man of the Tournament and Man of the Final.

The official sponsorship ceremony for the tournament took place on 27 January at the MCA Pavilion Lounge at 6.30 p.m.