U 14 teams from Bangalore, Chennai too in fray

By Lal Gunasekera

CRICKET: The 3rd Under-14 International Invitation Cricket Championships for Coaching/Schools Academies for the Nelson Mendis Challenge Trophy will be worked off from December 22 to 33 at eight venues in Colombo and the outskirts. This is conducted by the CCC School of Cricket.

There are 31 teams from Sri Lanka competing for honours from Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Panadura, Moratuwa, Wadduwa, Kotte, Nugegoda, Pelawatte, Malabe, Rajagiriya, Kesbewa, Boralesgamuwa, Pannipitiya and Colombo too, while five sides from Bangalore and Chennai in India too have confirmed participation making a total of 35 teams.

The tournament will be conducted on a league basis in the preliminary round with eight groups of 4-5 teams in each playing each other on a round-robin basis. The preliminaries will see 56 matches worked off. The winner and runner-up of each group will then figure in a knock-out basis in the pre "quarters" with 71 games in the entire competition including the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. The preliminaries and upto the "quarters" will be 30 overs each while the semi-finals and final over 45 overs.

The eight venues will be - CCC, D. S. Senanayake College, Thurstan, Shalika, Railway, Buddhadasa Public grounds at Pelawatte, Ananda Sastralaya grounds at Kotte and Sri Jayawardenepura MV grounds also in Kotte.

Apart from the glittering Nelson Mendis Challenge Trophy for the champions, there will be the CCC Trophy for the runners-up, as well as trophies for the Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Best Fielder and Best Player of the tournament. There will also be Man of the Match awards too from the pre quarter-final stage onwards.

The Awards Night, followed by dinner, will be held at the Bishop's College auditorium with a former illustrious Sri Lanka cricketer, Rumesh Ratnayake, as the chief guest with his wife distributing the awards. There are several sponsors for this tournament, including Ceylon Cold Stores, Singer, Sumathi Sports, Kumarasiri Saw Mills and Premier One Water Systems with even Sirasa FM and Y FM too coming forward.