Indoor cricket blooms again with Tri-nation

After a lapse of nine years Sri Lanka will host an indoor cricket international tournament in the form of ICL (Indoor Cricket League) Tri-Nation Series 2013. This tournament which will feature Sri Lanka, current World Cup holders Australia and India will be held from October 2 to 5 at the Austasia International Indoor Cricket Stadium in Thalawathugoda.

The tournament will be held in two segments, men and women. Besides the main tournament two Sri Lanka teams and the Australian side will vie in the women edition of the tournament. The series will feature a total of 17 matches; 15 round robin games and the two finals, according to Hiran de Mel, the Technical Director of the competition.

“We have scheduled five matches per day from October 2 to 4 starting off from 9.45am daily. All matches will be played in accordance to the international rules and regulations, where an over will contain eight deliveries. The series will be officially launched on Tuesday (October 1) at Thalawathugoda but the matches will be played from the next day,” de Mel stated.

Sri Lanka will include experienced campaigners such as Crishantha Peiris, the captain, Dilshan Vitharana, Niroshan Rajapakse, Kamal Kuruppu, Kolitha Nayanananda, Ruwan Chandrakumara and Sanjaya Gangodawila. The newest additions to the Sri Lanka team are pinch hitter Andy Solomans, Dinesh de Silva and Trishan Perera. Most of them also play in the local First Class cricket tournament. The side is coached by former Sri Lanka indoor cricket skipper Asela Pathirana. Experienced campaigners Vanessa de Silva, Rose Fernando, Gayathri Liyanage, Nilu Mendis and Randika Galhenage are some of the members of the women’s team. The women’s side is coached by former player Gayathri Kariyawasam while Fernando has been appointed as the skipper.

“We have a good blend of experienced and youth players in both our men’s and women’s sides. The main attraction of the series will be the men’s competition while the women’s competition will be among the Sri Lanka, Australia and a Sri Lanka Development side. Players are ea- ger to take part in this series, since it’s the first to be held in Sri Lanka in almost a decade,” de Mel added.

Interestingly indoor cricket was initially played in Germany in the 1960s but Australia takes the honour in introducing the game at competition level in the 1980s. Incidentally Australia has won all eight editions of the World Cup to be held since 1995 to 2011. Australia has played over 100 test matches and Sri Lanka takes the honour in handing them the only defeat in a series played in 2002 in Thalawathugoda. The Australia team arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday after nine years while India’s last visit took place two years ago. The ICL TriNation Series is sponsored by Black Knight.