Mercantile Premier League cricket Oct. 19 to Nov. 10

by Ranjan Anandappa

The Mercantile Cricket Association Premier League Tournament will get underway from October 19 and will go on till November 10th at six different venues.

The knock-out segment between the same seven teams comprising 6 matches is scheduled for November 16th with the semi-finals on the 23rd and the final and the award ceremony on November 30th.

The league matches will be played at the NCC, Colts, SSC, Thurstan College Grounds, De Soysa Park, Moratuwa and FTZ Grounds, Katunayake.

The participating seven teams are MAS Active Trading, (Captain Sameera Soysa) Hatton National Bank, (Captain Sajeeva Weerakoon) Sampath Bank,(Captain Dilhara Lokuhettige) MAS Unichela, (Captain Chamara Silva) Seylan Bank (Captain Harsha Vithana), John Keells Group (Captain Janaka Gunaratne), and Commercial Credit and Finanace PLC (Captain Upul Tharanga).

There will be special awards for the -Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Man Of The Series, Emerging Player and the Man Of The match at the knock out final.

A press briefing was held in connection with the tournament and the President of the MCA Ashley Ratnayake said that he hoped to conduct the tournament with a great deal of discipline. The matches will be played to the right spirit of the game.

He also introduced a new concept by picking an emerging player during the tournament and he will be sent to a recognised cricket academy for further training,which could be the MRF in India or even in New Zealand.

Mahesh Wijewardena, the Commercial Director of Singer, Sri Lanka said that the commitment of Singer towards sports is not only based on commercial values as one could see the sponsorships have been on long term basis.

The Singer sponsorship to 'A' division cricket at the MCA is well over two decades.

In addition, the company has sponsored the 'Bradby Shield' Rugger, the Royal 'Blue and 'Gold' Hockey Sevens. " We are extremely happy to sponsor the tournament for the 21st occasion as the tournament is an important event in the MCA calendar. The MCA has been a silent contributor to Sri Lanka Cricket.

About 140 companies and 1000-odd players come out through the tournaments. Singer is a promoter and a developer rather than a sponsor. It is not a company that comes forward for financial benefits only.

The MCA has played a vital role by bridging the gap of a school leaving cricketer by providing employment, henceforth to pursue in their cricketing future." said Mahesh Wijewardena.