The winner of the Last Man Stands, Sri Lanka Winter Season 2016 will play an exhibition game against a Rest of the World side on Sunday, 11th December at P. Sara Oval Grounds starting at 2.30pm.
Currently the group stage matches comprising 12 teams are underway at De Mazenod College, Kandana with the final league games scheduled for 10th December. The top four teams will then qualify for the semi-finals to be held on Sunday morning and the winner of the local final will be representing Sri Lanka in the exhibition game. The official Press briefing was held on Wednesday evening at MCA grounds.
This unique cricket concept under the banner “A new way to play cricket” is an opportunity for all amateur cricketers to play a game of competitive cricket in just over two hours.
This specific T20 format comprising of 8 players was invented by two Englishmen, Bjorn Briggs and Wayne Greve. Initially made popular among the amateur leagues in England, soon many teams around the globe caught up with the trend and currently over 2500 teams play the format.
LMS maintains its own website in which player details, statistics and rankings are offered in order. This enables players to compare performances subject to their local LMS T20 competitions through a global platform. All teams are subjected to Team world rankings as well.
Currently, major cricketing nations such as England, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Bangladesh and UAE have opened their doors to the LMS format. USA is another emerging cricket playing nation which has embraced the new format. Once every 2 years a LMS World Championship is held.
Sheran Fernando, a Sri Lankan entrepreneur and cricket fanatic residing in Australia is the mastermind in bringing this tournament to the Emerald Isle pointed out the fact that they are hoping to conduct the LMS World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2021 at the press conference.
“I believe this will be a great concept in Sri Lanka. We are hoping to expand the tournament to Kandy, Galle, Negombo and Gampaha in the years to come. I urge the fans to come and witness a great game of cricket on Sunday. ” Fernando said.
The Kensington Oval accommodated the 2015 competition and the tournament was streamed live globally. The next World Championship is proposed to be held in Cape Town, South Africa in 2017. Any nation is being welcomed to register and take part and financial incentives will be provided for local and national competitions.
