‘National Softball Cricket tourney will help identify new talent’

Chinthana WASALA

The National softball cricket tournament starts today at the Public Ground Mawathagama with 34 teams from 17 Districts taking part.

The preliminary round matches will be played at Kurunegala, Batticaloa, Tangalle and Colombo Districts with the initial step starts today with teams from North Western, North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces making ground today and tomorrow at Mawathagama, Kurunegala.

This tournament will help identify new talent from cities and far corners of the country and this will be a stage for talented cricketers to come forward, said Minister of Media and Information and the former President of Softball Cricket Association Anura Priyadarshana Yapa while ensuring his continuous support for Softball cricket in Sri Lanka. The President of the Association and the Minister of Skills Development Dayasritha Tissera also expects a successful tournament this year too .

The sponsors of the Tournament, Dialog Telecom, a company always cares about Sri Lankan Cricket, has come forward to make this a reality, said Chief Executive Officer of Dialog Telecom PLC Dr. Hans Wijesuriya.

The champions, runners up, best batsman and bowler in the final will be awarded valuable cash prizes along with the trophies.

Each match will be of 30 overs per team. The teams from Eastern and North Central Provinces meet at the Webber Stadium Batticaloa on May 02 and 03. Teams of Southern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces will battle each other on May 16 and 17 at the D.A. Rajapaksa Stadium and Navy Ground Tangalle.

The winners and the runners up of the preliminaries will qualify for the final round matches which will take place at the Municipal ground Chilaw on May 30 and 31.