MCA T20 tournament begins today

The MCA Tournament Committee has added a brand new tournament to the MCA 2013 calendar, an innovative Twenty20 Knock-out Super Tournament for their three top divisions – The Premier League, ‘B’ division and the ‘C’ division.

On the initiative of new MCA Tournament Committee Chairman Mahesh de Alwis they have invited the 2013 season’s four top teams in the Premier League, the ‘B’ division and the ‘C’ division, winners and the Runner-ups to play on a knock-out format.

The eight qualifying teams are : MAS Active Trading, (Premier League and Knock-Out winner) , HNB (Premier League Knock –out runners-up), MAS Unichela ‘A’ and Sampath Bank; all from the Premier League, MAS Unichela ‘B’ (winner) and Commercial Credit & Finance PLC (runners-up) of the ‘B’ division, HSBC ‘A’ (winner) and Commercial Bank (runners-up) from the ‘C’ division.

The MAS group dominance is clearly shown with three of their teams in the line-up.

The tournament is fully funded by the MCA and the timing is perfect as, Sri Lanka Cricket has just completed their three day tournament which means all the club players will be free to turn out for their respective firms. All eight teams are included current National players and top class Club players.

The tournament consist of eight matches will be held on April 19, 20 and 21.

The quarter –finals will be worked off on the opening day at two venues, as follows:

MAS Active Trading Vs. Sampath Bank (morning) and HSBC Vs. Commercial Bank (afternoon) at the BRC grounds. MAS Unichela ‘B’ Vs. Commercial Credit & Finance PLC. (morning) and MAS Unichela ‘A’’ Vs. HNB (afternoon) at the Colts grounds.

The semi–finals will be played on April 20 and the two finals, the play off for the third place and the Final will take place on April 21 at the NCC grounds, followed by the awards presentation.

The four special awards on offer are the Best Batsman, Bowler, Man of the Tournament and Man of the Final.

All eight matches will be supervised by MCA appointed Match Referees, K.H. Nandasena, Upali Warnapura, Mahesh Jayasekera and Basil Perera.

The privileged Captains to lead their sides in this historic tournament are: Tharanga Laksitha - MAS Active Trading, Farveez Maharoof - MAS Unichela ‘A’, Manjula Fernando - MAS Unichela ‘B’, Kosala Kulasekera - HNB, Hasantha Fernando - Sampath Bank , Dilshan Indrasinghe - HSBC, Achala Ranasinghe - Commercial Bank and Chaminda Vidanapathirana - Commercial Credit & Finance PLC.

MAS Active Trading having won the coveted double in the MCA top league will be smacking their lips to make it a ‘triple’ with their T20 specialists, Dilshan Munaweera, Angelo Perera, Kithruwan Withanage , Udara Jayasundara, Isuru Udana, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, T.M. Sampath, Sachitra Senanayake and Sameera Soyza.