The Sri Lanka domestic season involving the Premier clubs has kicked off. The Premier limited over tournament has been just concluded and the Inter Provincial tournament involving five provinces is now been conducted.
Irrespective of the quality of players and the possibly better standard of cricket which prevails in the Provincial tournament due to the grouping of players which is only to be expected, the Inter Club tournament for its loyalty and rivalry will always remain unmatched in the Sri Lankan cricketing circles.
If the schools are the nursery of cricket in Sri Lanka, then the clubs are the strong foundation on which cricket is founded and built on. All great cricketers both present and past were made famous whilst playing for their clubs and that is a fact that cannot be denied.
It was with that passion and determination that the clubs embarked on the current year’s Premier Limited Over tournament, which had the added flavor of having most of the National players participating too.
Clubs such as the SSC, NCC, Colts, Tamil Union and Bloomfield where the larger sprinkling of national cricketers come from, were quite liberal with their selection policy of permitting them to play in the club tournament whilst wrapping the likes of Lasith Malinga in cotton wool to preserve him for the all important World Cup. An interesting phenomenon that emerged from tournament was the keenness of the national players to play in the tournament which underwrites the importance and interest players have in the club tournament, which should be considered as very healthy and a factor when making decisions.
Also a major incentive that awaited the players this year was the Provincial selection which was based on performance in the club tournament and the contract offered by Sri Lanka Cricket not being the criteria. Hence there was a percentage of none contracted players in the final Provincial line ups, being preferred ahead of the originally contracted players from the pool of one hundred, which is again another positive development and a good reason for the players to put their best foot forward when playing for your club.
The tournament did witness some fascinating cricket with every team fighting tooth and nail with just the Colombo Colts being unbeaten and eventually ending as the joint champions with the SSC due to the rain which prevailed on the day of the final.
The fact that the new found sponsors of clubs were keen and active followers of their respective sponsored clubs spiced up the event and also offered the players an extra incentive to perform. The Media coverage afforded to the Semi Final and the final in the form of TV and Radio commentary sponsored by SLC and conducting the said games under lights did serve as an incentive to the clubs, players and of course the sponsors who had their brands given the much needed exposure. These were all steps in the right direction by the SLC from the point of view of fostering club cricket, which has been a long felt need.
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| The first Premiere League Semi final bet ween SSC and NCC in progress |
And besides a very well contested tournament the performance of some of the players were outstanding. Mahela Udawatte the best batsman of the tournament has started the season in grand style.
The Chilaw Marians batsman with three hundred and fifty plus runs stood out as the highest run getter whilst Malinda Warnapura the Colts captain and Milinda Siriwardana the Chilaw allrounder were the other top run getters. If Udawatte was all aggression Warnapura did play some mature innings for his club cutting out his attack and playing some great innings under pressure displaying his outstanding temperament which eventually helped his club to share the plum.
Siriwardana on the other hand was all grace and elegance as he milked himself in excess of two hundred and fifty runs at the expense of some hapless bowlers. The flamboyant Dilshan turning out for his new club the Tamil Union was the best out of the batsmen selected for the World Cup. Getting in to top gear after a slow start with two breath taking hundreds, Dilshan would have warmed the hearts of many including the selectors.
On the bowling front Thisara Perera the highly talented all rounder of the Colts Cricket Club was the highest wicket taker with twelve wickets with none of his world cup colleagues coming up with anything noteworthy. Perera whose virtue has been accurac with deceptive pace was at his best delivering some telling spells besides his hard hitting knocks down the order. However the best bowler and the man of the tournament was the highly talented former U.19 skipper Sachith Pathirana, Who with his left arm spin was a close second in the wicket taking tally in addition to some belligerent knocks with the bat for the CCC. The evergreen Dinuk Hettiarachchi and the exciting young fast bowler Shaminda Eranga both from Chilaw Marians were the other top wick takers.
Interestingly one of the most spoken of cricketers the great Chaminda Vaas who did make a determined bid to make the world cup his farewell was also in good form with the ball. Whilst not amongst the runs due to his decision to open the batting Vaas did make amends with a polished performance with the ball claiming nine wickets at an average of thirteen and maintaining a very respectable economy rate of just over three runs per over. fascinatingly Nuwan Kulasekera with whom Vass had to fight for a spot in the World Cup line up ended with just four wickets in four games. Vaas though not included in the final squad was bound to be a handy performer for Sri Lanka with his very useful seam bowling and more than polished batting, as witnessed not just in the club tournament but in the Provincial tournament too.
The other most talked of player the great Sanath Jayasuriya too was hoping for a grand send off with a place in the world cup squad. Whilst he didn’t have a good run with the bat, his bowling as a left arm spinner with six wickets and an economy rate of less than four deserved a closer look.
No doubt if selected his all round skills and experience could have been extremely handy to the national team. Whilst Jayasuriya would have struggled to displace either Dilshan or Upul Tharanga who had better records to show as openers in the batting department in the Tournament, his claim as a left arm spinner and possible number seven batsman with the mandatory ball change, would have been handy as besides he is also a brilliant fielder. Chaminda Vaas and Sanath Jayasuriya along with few others such as Suraj Randiv and Thilina Kandamby should consider themselves extremely unlucky not to have made it to the final fifteen.
Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading
cricket promoter and an
international cricket commentator |
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