Pink ball Major League Tier A Tournament 2017-2018 a major boost for domestic cricket accentuati...

The country’s domestic cricket will be enriched by the advent of 4-day cricket
that will come to stay with the staging of the Major League Tier A Tournament
2017-2018. This is regarded as a significant upswing mooted by Sri Lanka Cricket
(SLC) in transcending the domestic structure to international standards that had
been a long felt need to optimising the mainstream national cricket. The added
impetus to it will be playing with the pink ball from the Super 8 stage which too is
being prioritised by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) with the pink ball use having invaded
international cricket.
Accordingly, the tournament will kick off from the league stage from Thursday
December 8 up to January 21, 2018. Matches will initially be of 3-day duration on
points basis carrying prize money of Rs.1 million to the winners and Rs.750, 000 to
the runners-up. In all 14 teams will be in the fray from where the top 8 teams
drawn in to Group A and B will go in to the Super 8 that will be of 4-day duration
and worked out from January 26, 2018 to February 11. The six teams that do not
make it in to the Super 8 will be drawn in to the Major Plate Tournament from
January 26, 2018 to February 11 in Group A and B.
The participating clubs are SSC led by Sachithra Senanayake, Ragama CC led by
Lahiru Thirimanne, CCC by Ashan Priyanjan, Colts Dilruwan Perera, Saracens SC
Harsha Cooray, Bloomfield C & AC Nipun Karunanayake, Moors SC C Chamara
Silva, Chilaw Marians Malinga Pushpakumara, NCC Angelo Perera, Army SC
Seekuge Prasanna, Tamil Union C & AC Kithruwan Vithanage, BRC T.N. Sampath,
Badureliya CC Alankara Asanka, Sri Lanka Port Authority Gihan Rupasinghe.
A tournament feature will be that the last placed team in Tier A will be demoted
to the Tier B while the winners in Tier B will be promoted to Tier A. This is aimed
as a player incentive in optimising the competition level in giving the domestic
structure impetus.

By Srian Obeyesekere