Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) is hoping to start the 2020/21 schools first-XI cricket season by the 15th of November 2020, ThePapare.com learns.
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According to the schools U19 cricket tournament secretary at the SLSCA, there will not be any promotions or demotions from the last season with the tournament expected to undergo some major changes.
One of the changes will be the switch to a limited-overs tournament. The 36 teams in Division 1 will now be competing in 2 tiers, Tier ‘A’ and Tier ‘B’, with 18 teams in each. Teams will be divided into the tiers according to their placings last season. Within each tier, there will be 2 groups of 9 teams each.
The tournament will be played as a limited overs championship due to the current pandemic but it is expected to go back to being a two-day tournament next season. However, Schools can still play their traditional two-day fixtures according to their discretion.
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The limited-overs tournament will be a full-on league starting from this year, unlike the past where only the top-16 teams played on knockout basis. The season will begin with the One-Day League which will be played from September to October and the two-day league will be played thereafter. The two-tier format will be unchanged in both One-day and Two-day tournaments while the promotions and demotions will be determined by the Two-day league from next year.
Another major change is that the tournament will now be called schools ‘U20’ cricket tournament while the rest of the age categories too will be changed as U14, U16 and U18. This will not change the cut-off date of birth though since the tournament was already permitting players who are 19-plus.
Division 2 will also undergo the same changes except that tier ‘B’ will have only 17 teams.
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