Sri Lanka Super Four Provincial Tournament to start this week

Wednesday, 28 March 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Cricket’s revamped domestic provincial tournament has been given a name and a launch date. The Super Four Provincial Tournament, which was initially due to be played last December, will now get underway on 30 March with some of the best talent in the country taking part.

The tournament, which will consist of four provincial teams based around SLC Centres of Excellence in Colombo, Galle, Kandy and Dambulla, facing off in 6 four-day games - two of which will be played with a pink ball under lights - will also serve as a testing ground for Sri Lanka’s tour to the West Indies in May. SLC confirmed in a release that the tournament had been rescheduled “in order to make room for the tournament to be used as a precursor to the West Indies Tour”.

The tournament will also see Sri Lanka limited overs captain Angelo Mathews returning from injury, as he looks set to captain Kandy. Sri Lanka Test Captain Dinesh Chandimal, Test Vice Captain Suranga Lakmal and Test batsman Dimuth Karunaratne will be the other captains.

SLC have so far named preliminary squads ranging from 20-23 players, which will be trimmed down to 15 in the coming days by Sri Lanka’s selectors in consultation with the team captains. SLC will also be hoping to keep an eye on some of Sri Lanka’s burgeoning Under-19 talent, with Hasitha Boyagoda, fresh off his world record knock at the Under 19 World Cup, and the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis among several Under-19 players taking part.

Meanwhile, all the matches will be played in Hambantota, Dambulla and Katunayake. SLC explained that Kandy was not considered as a venue as the stadium was being used for the school cricket season, while Colombo was overlooked in order to stir up interest in less heralded areas of the country.