Domestic cricket postponed again

Sri Lanka’s Premier domestic cricket tournament which came to a standstill in mid March due to the coronavirus pandemic and rescheduled to get underway on July 14, will not be conducted as planned. The tournament has been further postponed without a definite date.

The two segments of the tournament, the Super Eight and the Plate Championship will not take place. Sri Lanka Cricket said that the new dates for the two tournaments will be decided after and Extra Ordinary General Meeting which is scheduled to be held in due course.

The four round of matches of the Super Eight segment contested by the top four teams of the two groups were scheduled to be played from July 14 to August 3. The three round of matches of the Plate Championship contested by the bottom three teams of the two groups were scheduled to be played from July 17 to August 2.

At the stoppage of the tournament in mid March, defending champions CCC were leading Group 'A' with four outright wins while Group 'B' was led by Chilaw Marians CC. It’s the same fate in the Premier Tier 'B' Tournament where 12 teams are contesting. So far all the teams have played seven matches each with Police SC taking the lead with SLPA CC at second and Bloomfield in the third slot.

Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Cricket Tournament Committee will not be conducting the Under-19 Provincial Tournament. The reason being the inability to select the teams represented by schoolboy cricketers. The Under-19 Schools 2-Day Tournament is at the tail end before it was stopped prior to the completion of pre- quarter finals.

The school tournament would most probably be further dragged until the G.C.E. Advance Level examination is completed either to late September of early October.