MCA eager to see situation improve
Mercantile Cricket Association (MCA), who runs a busy schedule throughout the year with mercantile cricket tournaments has come to a standstill due to the prevailing health situation in Sri Lanka and globally.
MCA, who conducts tournaments from Divisions ‘A’ to ‘H’, is yet to finish two tournaments with the ongoing ‘E’ Division with 24 league matches to go. In the division 42 league matches have already been completed with 15 final round matches to be played after the conclusion of the league.
According to the media spokesman of the MCA, Tyronne Perera, the ‘A’ Premier, ‘B’, ’C’ and ‘D’ divisions have already being concluded and the ‘F’ and ‘G’ divisions are still to be played. The Premier League was played under three segments along with the ‘B’ and ‘C’ divisions, which were played in two segments with the League and Knockout. All three divisions were played with white balls.
The ‘D’ division was played as 40 overs per-side and the the ‘E’, ‘F’ and ‘G’ were to be conducted as 25 overs per-side games. Perera went on to say that the MCA will have their fingers crossed and the tournaments will be continued once the government and the health authorities give their approval.
Apart from the League tournaments the annual Over-40 and Open 6s along with the much important Under-13 and Under-15 also are in the waiting list as the MCA will have to work overtime to complete the association’s yearly schedule. It all depends on the eradication of the deadly virus, Perera concluded.
Rohana Dissanayake, the President of the MCA when contacted by the Sunday Times stated that the Executive Committee of MCA will decide when to go along with the remaining tournaments once the country becomes free of the deadly virus.
The MCA will speak to the respective mercantile establishments in the event of releasing players for the tournaments to continue. As the establishments were closed for some time the Exco will draw their plans once the stake holders give its permission to go ahead with the remaining tournaments. This year’s matches were hampered and had to be postponed on several occasions earlier due to the adverse weather conditions that resulted in upsetting the original schedule.
Once everything is cleared the Exco along with the Tournament Committee will have to reschedule its progamme to conduct the remaining part of the halted ‘E’ division and to play the Over-40 Sixes and Open Sixes tournaments. The MCA organised Inter-Academy Under-13 and Under-15 tournaments will be staged later.
The President also spoke of the importance of the Under-13 and Under-15 Academy tournaments which will open a window for the youngsters to expose themselves in bigger competitive cricket.
“The MCA, the controlling body of mercantile cricket with a history of over a century of years, had made an unblemished contribution to Sri Lanka cricket as almost every national cricketer take part in the tournaments conducted by the MCA and also helps young cricketers in finding employment to plan their future as cricketers and good citizens,” the MCA President concluded.