Sri Lanka cricket legends Muttiah Muralidharan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena announced the return of the Murali Harmony Cup to Northern Sri Lanka from 1-5 November at a media conference.
The Murali Harmony Cup is a 20-team reconciliation cricket tournament staged to promote community-building and friendship in post-war Sri Lanka.
The 2013 Murali Harmony Cup is being played at five grounds across Northern Sri Lanka in the towns of Jaffna, Oddusuddan, Mankulam, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya from 1-5 November. It is a reconciliation and community-building Twenty20 cricket tournament featuring U19 schoolboys and U23 women cricketers designed to promote unity, goodwill, teamwork, the spirit of fair play and, more importantly, service to disadvantaged rural communities. Twelve boys’ teams and eight ladies’ teams from across Sri Lanka are playing two matches every day at each ground, with the finals on 5 November at Kilinochchi Central College.
The schoolboy tournament will follow the same format as the inaugural event held in 2012 with twelve U19 boy’s teams and eight U23 ladies’s club teams competing against each other in the northern towns of Jaffna, Oddusuddan, Mankulam, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya.
The tournament also includes combined school teams from Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar-Vavuniya and Batticaloa-Trincomalee providing a unique opportunity for young cricketers from the north and east to play in an organised event.
“This is a unique tournament that brings together Sri Lankan kids from different backgrounds to share their joy of cricket together,” said spinner Muralidharan, the highest wicket-taker in Test match history.
“The tournament was very popular last year with big crowds, lots of fun and friendship, and everyone wanted it to continue so we decided we had to somehow make it happen again,” Muralidharan added.
The five-day tournament has been jointly organised by Muralidaran’s charity the Foundation of Goodness and travel company Red Dot Tours with the support of the Sri Lanka Army and main sponsors Fortune Oil, MAS, Kia Motors, Aquafresh, Ministry of Crab and Sri Lanka Insurance.
The inaugural 2012 tournament was won by St Peter’s College and Sri Lanka Army Ladies. This year the qualifying school teams in the boys competition are St Peter’s College, Anuradhapura Central College, Trinity College, Richmond College, St Sebastian’s College and also a combined schools team from Uva Province.
Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena, also a Foundation of Goodness trustee, hopes that the tournament will help develop the game in Sri Lanka’s North and East.
“Last year the tournament unearthed three exceptional cricketers from the north who are now playing with leading First Class clubs and this year too I am confident we’ll see some really talented cricketers,” Jayawardena said.
GROUPS
Jaffna – Group C at St Patrick’s College (Boys)
1. Jaffna Combined Schools
2. Mannar / Vavuniya Combined Schools
3. St Peter’s College – Colombo
4. Anuradhapura Central College
Kilinochchi – Group E at Central College Grounds (Boys)
1. Kilinochchi Combined Schools
2. Batticaloa / Trinco Combined Schools
3. Trinity College – Kandy
4. Cricket Seenigama
Oddusuddan – Group D at IODR Oval (Boys)
1. Mullaitivu Combined Team
2. Richmond College – Galle
3. St Sebastian’s College – Katuneriya
4. Uva Province Combined Schools
Mankulam – Group A at Mankulam MV Grounds (Ladies)
1. Seenigama Ladies
2. Colombo Colts Ladies
3. Nittambuwa Ladies
4. Eastern Province Ladies
Vavuniya – Group B at Vavuniya Central College (Ladies)
1. North Province Ladies
2. Shakthi Ladies
3. Army Ladies
4. North Central Province Ladies
