Super brats of merchant cricket stand warned

by Callistus Davy

Keepers of the country’s business sector cricketers will enforce a major crackdown on teams which dispute umpires, abuse their playing gear or deploy unregistered rogue players at their flagship tournament called the mercantile premier league which starts next week and culminates with the high octane limited overs games.

To ensure rule violators are kept in check, the Mercantile Cricket Association (MCA), which is considered to have an influence second only to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), has enlisted six match referees to police nine venues including the Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo.

Tournaments conducted by the MCA have not been a hundred percent dispute-free over the years and officials fear the organization’s reputation could take a beating if teams or their supporters are allowed to mess around with the rules.

“What is the use of winning if there is no discipline and discipline will matter a lot”, warned MCA Secretary Rohana Dissanayake. “We will not be hesitant to take action for violation of the rules”.

Dissanayake said he expected players and teams to co-orporate and ensure the smooth running of the tournament and no authority will be able to over-rule decisions made by the match referees.

Some MCA officials in the past have accused players of being too big for their boots and abusing their national status to intimidate match officials. In one of the previous incidents at an MCA conducted tournament, a captain of a team had flung his bat in the air and argued with an umpire after he was ruled out.

Most of the country’s reputed merchant organizations see their pride at stake when contesting the MCA Premier League which has now expanded to take in the slam-bang and clamorous T20 format called the Super Tournament to add to the existing 50-over championship in which Sri Lanka’s top-brand cricketers feature.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s team selection committee will also be monitoring and scrutinizing players not just on conduct but to unearth any new players who they believe can be slotted into the Sri Lanka team which is now in an unsettled state.

“This time the MCA tournament will be closely monitored by the (national) selectors”, said former Sri Lanka Test wicket-keeper Gamini Wickremasinghe who now heads the MCA which extended a special invitation to chief selector Kapila Wijegunawardena to grace the tournament’s launch on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s team clothing partner MAS Active is one of the favourite contestants in the fray as is another off-shoot called MAS Unichela which possess the cream of the merchant players along with food processor John Keells.

Matches concerning the three teams are expected to come under the closest of fan-following as MAS Unichela is the defending League champion and MAS Active the Knock-out title holder. Some of the other notable contestants in the fray are Sampath Bank, Hatton National Bank, Seylan Bank and Commercial Credit and Finance which also have top-notch players on their payroll.