SLC Premier League tourney's from tomorrow

Chris Dhambarage

The Sri Lanka Cricket organised inter club cricket season for 2007/08 sponsored by Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation will commence on November 14 with the Premier Trophy division one and the division two limited over tournaments.

The Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation will sponsor all domestic tournaments of SLC for the next five years at a cost of Rs. 50 million. This will include the Premier limited overs, Premier League and the Twenty20 tournament.

The teams competing in the Premier Division One are CCC, Colts CC, SSC, NCC, Tamil Union, Ragama CC, Bloomfield, Moors SC, Chilaw Marians SC and Baduraliya CC.

The ten teams will play each other on a league basis in the limited overs tournament which begins on Wednesday and the four top teams will qualify to play in the semifinals on December 15 at the NCC grounds, Maitland Place and Colts CC grounds at Havelock Park.

The final is scheduled for December 22 at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place. A reserve day has been marked for both semifinals and the final.

Meanwhile the teams that will compete in the division two limited overs tournament are Sebestianites SC, Lankan CC, BRC, Panadura SC, Saracens SC, Sri Lanka Army SC, Sri Lanka Police SC, Moratuwa SC, Singha SC and Sri Lanka Air Force SC.

The semifinals will be worked off on December 15 at the CCC grounds, Maitland Crescent and Bloomfield grounds in Reid Avenue with the final scheduled for December 21 at the NCC grounds, Maitland Place.

The Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation have made arrangements to telecast some of the key matches live and also the two semifinals and final of the Premier limited overs tournament.

This years tournament will be of great importance with Sri Lanka Cricket also spending a massive sum of Rs. 56 million on the ten Premier Tier 'A' clubs. The ten clubs who will benefit by SLC's money allocation are SSC, NCC, CCC, Colts, Bloomfield, Tamil Union, Baduraliya, Chilaw Marians, Ragama and Moors.

Each of these clubs will receive Rs. 3.93 million as player fees, match fees and administration fees for the season. They will also be provided with coloured clothing for the limited overs and Twenty20 tournaments which is a new concept adopted by SLC.

In addition SLC will be breaking new ground by paying a monthly retainer for 15 players from each club (total of 150 players). The total expenditure for the retainer is Rs. 1.05 million. The SLC will also pay a club coach Rs. 50,000 a month for ten months. The total expenditure for this is Rs. 5 million.

SLC officials stated that these steps have been taken to make the Premier cricket tournament of the country more professional than it has been in the past.