SLC reintroduces domestic Super Fours T20 tournament
Thursday, 22 May 2014 00:00
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By Malik Gunatilleke
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) yesterday announced the reintroduction of the Sri Lanka Cricket Super Fours domestic T20 tournament with the competition scheduled to commence on 27 June and the finals scheduled for 2 July.
The tournament was first held last year, in view of the cancellation of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL), in order to find a team to represent Sri Lanka in the Champions League T20 tournament played in India.
The Super Fours tournament will feature 60 of the best domestic players, including members of the World T20 winning squad, who will represent four provincial teams based on their performances in the domestic cricket leagues.
The first round of the tournament will be played in a round-robin format, during which the teams will play against each other once. The group leader at the end of the first round of matches will automatically qualify for the final while the teams placed second and third will compete in a play-off match for the remaining spot in the final.
Sri Lanka Premier League Director and Super Fours Organising Committee Head Ajit Jayasekera stated that the SLC has a short window between Sri Lanka’s tour of England and the South African tour to hold this competition.
“We want to build on last year’s tournament, which was hurriedly organised due to the cancellation of the SLPL and the need to have a team represent Sri Lanka in the Champions League. We also want to showcase the outstanding local talent on offer,” he said.
The tournament will not feature any foreign players this year but Jayasekera conceded that future editions of the tournament could.
“We will keep it to just four teams in order to avoid teams being diluted. Having only the 60 best domestic players in the tournament will ensure that four equally strong teams will be represented,” he added.
The Sri Lankan National Team will return to the island on 26 June while the Super Fours will commence the following day. Furthermore, the competition ends on 2 July with the first practice match against South Africa scheduled for the very next day (3).
Asked if the National Team players will be required to participate in the tournament, Jayasekera stated that only players participating in this tournament would be eligible to represent Sri Lanka in the Champions League.
Head of Cricket Operations at SLC Carlton Bernadus added that the national selectors had made it clear to the National Team players that the tournament was compulsory.
However, concerns still remain with the National players having little to no rest between the England tour and South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka.
“The tournament will ensure that we have a good stream of players who will serve us in years to come,” Bernadus stated.
Furthermore, he highlighted the tournament’s aim to encourage the administrators of the game including coaches, managers, physiotherapists and trainers.
A total of Rs. 15 million has been budgeted for the tournament, with SLC planning to launch an advertising campaign to call for sponsorship deals. Meanwhile, the player payments will depend on these sponsorship deals, but will most likely be on par with or slightly higher than player fees for first-class matches, the SLC confirmed.
The tournament will be played at the SSC grounds while spectators will be given free entrance to all the matches. The team names, logos, captains and squad members will be announced within the coming weeks.
