Major Club 3-day tournament will be poorer without SSC

Thursday, 20 February 2025 03:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dimuth Karunaratne played his final innings (44) for SSC against NCC before migrating to Australia

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The absence of a club like SSC in the Major Club 3-day tournament is likely to have a major impact on the quality of cricket that will be played next season.

With SSC certain to be demoted to play in Tier B, the big question is whether the clubs who were lucky to survive relegation and remain in the main tournament will be good enough to provide the kind of competitive cricket Sri Lanka Cricket is looking for as they continue to whittle down the number of participating teams in the Major Club 3-day tournament to 12.

So far out of a ridiculous 26 clubs, eight have been relegated making it 18 clubs participating this season. By the end of the current season a further four clubs will be relegated bringing the number of clubs in the Major Clubs 3-day tournament down to 14 for next season (2025-26). By the end of the 2025-26 season a further two clubs will be relegated bringing the number of clubs in the Major Club 3-day tournament to 12.

The clubs that have been relegated play matches of 3-day duration in Tier B, which have no first-class status.

It is very unfortunate that SSC has to find themselves at the receiving end of relegation due to the unavailability of several of their players who belong to the national team. Amongst the clubs playing in the ongoing Major Club 3-day tournament SSC has been the worst hit with the largest representation of current national players numbering 9 that includes their Captain Charith Asalanka. They were also unlucky with the weather where several matches they could have won ended in a draw. SSC managed to win just one game out of eight.

Ragama CC another club that will face relegation like SSC lost two of their players to the national side that included their Captain Janith Liyanage.

The club representation of national players for this season (number of appearances for the club in brackets):

SSC (9) – Charith Asalanka (2), Kusal Mendis (1), Chamidu Wickramasinghe (3), Dasun Shanaka (4), Dimuth Karunaratne (5), Nuwanidu Fernando (5), Avishka Fernando (2), Kasun Rajitha (3), Prabath Jayasuriya (5).
CCC (6) – Dhananjaya de Silva (3), Nishan Madushka (4), Vishwa Fernando (6), Wanindu Hasaranga (1), Asitha Fernando (1), Kamindu Mendis (1).
Colts (4) – Dinesh Chandimal (2), Dilshan Madushanka (3), Angelo Mathews (4), Dunith Wellalage (0)
NCC (3) – Pathum Nissanka (0), Dushmantha Chameera (3), Lahiru Kumara (2).
Moors SC (3) – Sadeera Samarawickrama (4), Ramesh Mendis (6), Milan Rathnayake (5)
Ragama CC (2) – Janith Liyanage (3), Eshan Malinga (0)
BRC (1) – Mohamed Shiraz (3)
Panadura SC (1) – Oshada Fernando (6)
Negombo CC (1) – Nishan Peiris (4)
Bloomfield (1) – Jeffrey Vandersay (1)
Police SC (1) – Kusal Perera (1)