Premier cricket comes aboard from December 1
Sri Lanka Cricket will commence its first class season with the three-day Premier League Cricket tournament, 2017/2018 starting December 1. The tournament of 24 clubs will be played in two tiers—A and B.
Tier A will consist of the top 14 clubs who will initially play in two groups of seven teams before the top four in each group play against each other in the Super Eight tournament. The remaining six teams will play for the Plate Championships.
The Super Eight matches will be played across four days and set to begin on January 19, 2018. Kicking off the first class tournament, defending champions SSC will meet bottom ranked Moors in their opening fixture, followed by Saracens vs CCC, Port Authority vs Chilaw Marians, NCC vs Baduraliya, BRC vs Army in Tier A Sinhalese Sports Club Chilaw Marians CC Ragama Cricket Club Nondescripts Cricket Club Colombo Cricket Club Army Sports Club Colts Cricket Club Tamil Union C & AC Saracens Sports Club Burgher Recreation Club Bloomfield C & AC Badureliya Cricket Club Moors Sports Club Sri Lanka Port Authority SC matches starting from December 1. The Tier B matches will also begin simultaneously. Marians vs Army SC; Tamil Union vs BRC; Badureliya CC vs SLPA SC CCC vs Ragama CC; Moors SC vs Colts CC; Saracens SC vs Bloomfield; Army SC vs NCC; SLPA SC vs Tamil Union; BRC vs Badureliya CC Colts CC vs SSC; Moors SC vs Ragama CC; Bloomfield vs CCC; Tamil Union vs Chilaw Marians; SLPA SC vs NCC; Badureliya CC vs Army SC (Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara), Galle (Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Monaragala, Ratnapura and Badulla), Kandy (Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle) and Dambulla (Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Puttalam, Kurunegala, Matale)—are based on the four Centers of Excellence being formed around four international venues in each province.