SLC Major T20 semis, final to be played under lights at CCC

Thursday, 22 May 2025 00:44 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

National Head Coach Sanath Jayasuriya conducts practice session with Sri Lanka players at CCC under lights

Following request from national team head coach to SLC

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) grounds at Maitland Crescent which is the latest cricket venue to be equipped with lights will host the semi-finals and final of the SLC Major T20 tournament under lights.

The semi-finals will take place on 8 June with the first semi-final commencing at 3 p.m., and the second semi-final at 7:30 p.m.

The final will be played on 11 June commencing at 7:30 p.m. with a day reserved for rain on 12 June.

Apart from the Lanka Premier League (LPL) matches, domestic tournament games have seldom been played under lights. This could be the first instance of such an occurrence.

The new chairman of the Tournament Committee, Nalin Aponso said the request to play the semi-finals and final under lights came from a request made to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) by the national team’s head coach Sanath Jayasuriya who was keen to improve the quality of domestic cricket by giving players the opportunity and experience to play night cricket.

The CCC ground was first used as an international Test venue in March 1984 when it hosted the third Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, thus becoming Sri Lanka’s fourth Test venue.

The ground, which is one of the smallest Test venues in the world with a capacity to accommodate around 6,000 spectators, played host to three Test matches (against Pakistan in 1986 and against New Zealand in 1987) before being replaced by other grounds with a bigger capacity.

At present, domestic first-class and List A matches are regularly played at the ground. It also hosts warm-up matches for touring teams, Women’s ODI and T20I matches and Men’s Under19 international matches.

The SLC Major Club tournament matches were postponed due to the present bad weather conditions. The tournament is scheduled to resume on 25 May under a revised schedule.

The tournament is being conducted in two groups of seven teams each. The top four teams from each group will qualify to play in the quarter-finals which is scheduled to take place on 5 June at the P. Sara Oval and CCC grounds as day matches.

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event including Valentine ’s Day. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Flower Bouquets, Clothing, Watches, Lingerie, Gift Sets and Jewellery. Also if you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.