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| Wednesday, 31 December 2003 |
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A provincial tournament with an objective by Sa'adi Thawfeeq The new look Ten Sports inter-provincial cricket tournament which Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) launches on January 3 is expected to become a forerunner to achieving the ultimate objective of enhancing the domestic cricket standards and bringing it closer to international level. Former Sri Lanka cricketer and present SLC vice president and national selectors, Aravinda de Silva said that a tournament of this nature was essential if Sri Lanka are to become the best cricket nation in the world. "As a member of the team that reached Himalayan heights of international cricket in 1996, I have no doubt in mind that Sri Lanka has what it takes to make it to the of the mountain again," said de Silva at a press conference held at SLC headquarters yesterday. "In order to make that dream become a reality we must create an environment where the most skilled players are given the opportunity, the facilities, the encouragement and the necessary material support to do the best for their country," said de Silva. "In that sense the inter-provincial tournament 2004 should be looked as a step in the right direction. "We want to create an atmosphere for the players so that they will be ready to play international cricket whenever they are called upon to do so. During my playing days I have seen many players who have come into the national team not knowing even how to bowl an inswinger," De Silva said. The tournament has a touch of international flavour with each of the provinces being given a coach and the matches supervised by a panel of eight match referees and 12 umpires. De Silva said holding this provincial tournament was the only way of bridging the gap between domestic and international cricket without destablising the club tournaments. He said the original plan was to run the tournament with all seven provinces participating, but two are currently inactive thus the provinces that will compete are: Central (captained by Muttiah Muralitharan), North Central (captained by Mahela Jayawardene), Southern (captained by Marvan Atapattu), Uva (captained by Chaminda Vaas) and Western (captained by Hashan Tillakaratne). De Silva said the selection of players to each of the provinces have been made on a basis similar to the English county system where the 12 contracted national players are equally spread amongst the five provinces as 'overseas players'. He said the players picked for each team will represent the respective provinces for a period of three years. De Silva said players who perform well and are identified as future prospects will be first given the chance to represent Sri Lanka 'A' teams before being called upon to play for the national team. "There should be a process in place for players to come through." De Silva said that SLC had already arranged upto about 14 tours for the 'A' team within the next two-three years. How much importance SLC places on this provincial tournament can be guaged by the fact that the budget set aside for it is a staggering Rs. 30 million. Even a proposed 'A' tour to Zimbabwe in the month of January has been postponed indefinitely to accommodate the tournament to ensure that all the national players are available for it. The winning team will take the Ten Sports trophy and Rs. one million and the runner-up Rs, 500,000. Individual awards include Rs. 100,000 for man of the tournament, and Rs. 75,000 each for best batsman and best bowler. SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala while announcing the tournament was the brainchild of Aravinda de Silva, said that he hoped it would create a competition on the same lines as the state tournament in Australia and the provincial tournament in South Africa. "When Aravinda came up with the proposal to hold a provincial tournament, the entire SLC supported him," he said. De Silva said it would not have been possible had it not been for the support given by the National Development Centre, the selection committee, and the cricket and tournament committees. |
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