A media conference was called by the Mercantile Cricket Association on the MCA Bharti Airtel Twenty20 Super Tournament 2014 yesterday.
This inaugural tournament will consist of eight teams and will go through a span of three days. The launch was held at the Mercantile Cricket Association itself. The teams that are representing are Sampath Bank, HNB Bank, Mas Intimates Unichella, Mas Active Trading, Commercial Credit, Textured Jersey, Nations Trust Bank and Mobitel. The tournament is scheduled to begin on the 2nd of May and concluded on the 4th of May. The finals will be shown on live television.
Starting the proceedings Mr.Ashley Rathnayake, President of the Mercantile cricket Academy welcomed everybody who were present at the launch and commended this historical moment of MCA Bharti Airtel Twenty20 Tourament 2014. Mr.Rathnayake noted it is indeed a privilege for the MCA to partner-up with a large corporate like Airtel Lanka. Mr.Rathnayake reminded that MCA which is in existence for more than 100 years in Sri Lanka focuses on nurturing young talented cricketers.
Mr.Rathnayake reminded that there are over 2500 cricketers that pass out every year from schools all over the country and it has been a challenge for them where they go from there. He also mentioned that MCA helps young cricketers in their careers, employment opportunities and futures. Finally while mentioning the MCA has being sponsoring continuously the Premier Cricket A division for the last 23 years, he noted that the selectors of Sri Lanka cricket will be closely monitoring on this tournament, as they will be looking for talent.
Secondly Mr.Suren Goonewardene CEO/MD, Bharti Airtel Lanka mentions that as an organization, Airtel Lanka is always looking for new ways of being relevant t to our target group and said that they believed sports is the ideal platform to achieve this and what better way of promoting than through the game of cricket”
Mr Basil Perera (Professional Umpiring Association) tournament match referee explained to the captains present that the normal international ICC rules will be implemented throughout the tournament. While wishing all the teams, he reminded all captains to explain to their respective team members to play the game in best of spirits.
Finally the important item of the evening arrived which was the draw and it was settled as follows :
1. HNB Bank vs NTB Bank – 2nd May -9.30am MCA grounds
2. Mobitel vs Mas Active – 2nd May –1.30pm MCA grounds
3. Textured Jersey vs Unichella – 2nd May – 9.30am Bloomfied grounds
4. Commercial Credit vs Sampath Bank -2nd May – 1.30pm Bloomfied grounds
The semi- finals will be played at the MCA grounds on the 3rd of May at 9.30am and 1.30 pm the finals will be played at the MCA grounds on the 4th of May 2014.
