Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday, 9 December 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The MCA Cricket Development Committee, under the chairmanship of Mahesh de Alwis, has certainly raised the bar for the Annual MCA Inter-Academy Under-13 and Under-15 30-Over league tournaments for 2017, which will be held on 10 December.
This eagerly anticipated tournament is being held for the 12th successive year and is sponsored by Mighty Sports and Speed Sports.
For the first time the tournament is being held during the December 2017 school holidays. In the past it was held during the August school holidays.
All 74 matches (37x2) in both segments will be supervised by an MCA-appointed panel of match referees.
On the recommendations of the Player Control Team (PCT), players with potential and leadership qualities will be sent to Sri Lanka Cricket’s Junior Coaching Camp.
The newly-formed MCA Women’s Academy will field an U-15 girls’ team to play alongside the U-15 boys.
Both tournaments will be extensively covered by Batsman.com, containing player profiles and match updates. They also came up with the fresh idea of conducting the draw for groupings electronically, thus doing away with the old system of drawing lots.
The tournament will feature 30 teams, 15 in each segment, pooled into three groups, which will simultaneously commence playing on 10 December.
Upon the completion of the round robin matches, the first two teams of each group, along with the best two third-placed teams from the three groups, will advance to the elimination stage of quarterfinal, semifinal and final matches).
The two finals (Under-13 in the morning and Under-15 in the afternoon) are scheduled to be played on 23 December.
The official tournament ball is CA Attack (200 of the same are being donated by Speed Sports).
Out of the many special awards on offer, the awards for the Best Disciplined Team and the Best Captain will take top billing.
The launch of the event took place on 29 November at the MCA Pavilion Lounge, with the participation of the teams, coaches and managers.
Sena Nandiweera - Vice President and Chairman, Examinations and Technical of the Association of Cricket Umpires (ACU) briefed the coaches and managers on the rules and playing conditions governing the tournament.
Mighty Sports Managing Director Sirosha Gunatillake and Speed Sports Director Askar Ali handed over the respective sponsorship packages to MCA President Roshan Iddamalgoda.
Others present at the occasion were MCA Cricket Development Committee Chairman Mahesh de Alwis, CDC and Tournament Committee Secretary Sujeewa de Silva and Sudeera Yatawara and Chaminda Kaushal from Batsman.com along with Heshan Tillakaratne and Chamath de Silva from the Association of Professional Cricket Umpires.
The teams:
Under-13 - 15 teams and three groups
Under- 15 - 15 teams and three groups
