Major League Tournament (Sri Lanka)

Major League Tournament
Countries	Sri Lanka
Administrator	Sri Lanka Cricket
Format	First-class cricket
First edition	1988–89
Tournament format	Two group leagues and a final between group winners
Number of teams	26
Current champion	Colombo Cricket Club (8th title)
Most successful	Singhalese Sports Club (32 titles)
	2023 Major League Tournament

The Major League Tournament (formerly known as the Premier Trophy) is the main domestic first-class cricket competition in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1938 and has existed under a number of different names. Matches before the 1988–89 season are not considered first-class. Relaunched as the Lakspray Trophy in 1988–89, it was renamed as the P. Saravanamuttu Trophy in 1990–91 and as the Premier Championship in 1998–99. There was a change of format in 2015–16 when it became the Premier League Tournament which was split into Tiers A and B the following year.^[1]

The league was cancelled in 2020–21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then a new temporary tournament was introduced in 2021–22 called the National Super Provincial 4-Day Tournament.^[1] This was contested by five provincial teams: Colombo District, Dambulla District, Galle District, Jaffna District and Kandy District.^[2] They played each other once each and then the top four went into a knockout semi-final round followed by a championship final in which Kandy District defeated Jaffna District, 7–10 April 2022.^[3]

Ahead of the 2022–23 season, the competition was relaunched with a rebranding as the Major League Tournament. The 26 first-class clubs are split into Groups A and B, each team playing the others in its group once each, and the two group winners meeting in a championship final.^[4]

Teams

The Major League Tournament in 2023–24 was split into Group A and Group B leagues. The following teams were involved:^[4]^[5]

Group A

Group B

Former Team

Final

The group winners were Colombo Cricket Club and Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club who contested the MLT Final at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, starting on 17 November 2022.^[4] The match was drawn after four days play (extended from the scheduled three) and Colombo were declared the winners as they had the larger first innings total. Tamil Union won the toss and batted first. At the end of the first day, they had reached 356/5 after their captain Sadeera Samarawickrama had scored 188. They were all out on day two for 558. Colombo had scored 149/2 at close of play that day and went on to 411/5 at close of play on the third day. At this point, the match should have ended but it was extended by another day so that the question of first innings lead could be settled. Colombo were eventually all out for 669 on day four, their innings including three centuries by Kamindu Mendis (105), captain Ashan Priyanjan (100) and Chamindu Wijesinghe (139). There was only time for another sixteen overs before the close but the match was played out and Tamil Union scored 145/4 in their second innings. Wijesinghe was voted "Player of the Match".^[6] The "Player of the Series" award went to Ragama batsman Nishan Madushka, who scored 1,229 runs.^[7]

List of winners

The champion team in each season since 1938 has been:^[8]

Daily News Trophy

1938 Kalutara Town Club

1938–39 Singhalese Sports Club

1939–40 Singhalese Sports Club

1940–41 Saracens Sports Club

1941–42 No competition

1942–43 No competition

1943–44 Singhalese Sports Club

1944–45 Singhalese Sports Club

1945–46 Tamil Union C & A Club

1946–47 Singhalese Sports Club

1947–48 Singhalese Sports Club

1948–49 Singhalese Sports Club

1949–50 Singhalese Sports Club

P. Saravanamuttu Trophy

1950–51 Tamil Union C & A Club

1951–52 Singhalese Sports Club

1952–53 Nondescripts Cricket Club

1953–54 Nondescripts Cricket Club

1954–55 Nondescripts Cricket Club

1955–56 Burgher Recreation Club

1956–57 Nondescripts Cricket Club

1957–58 Nondescripts Cricket Club

1958–59 Singhalese Sports Club

1959–60 Singhalese Sports Club

1960–61 Nondescripts Cricket Club

1961–62 Singhalese Sports Club

1962–63 University

1963–64 Bloomfield C & AC

1964–65 Nomads Sports Club

1965–66 No competition

1966–67 Singhalese Sports Club

1967–68 Nomads Sports Club

1968–69 Singhalese Sports Club

1969–70 Nondescripts Cricket Club

1970–71 Nondescripts Cricket Club

1971–72 Singhalese Sports Club

1972–73 Singhalese Sports Club

1973–74 Singhalese Sports Club

1974–75 Singhalese Sports Club

1975–76 Nondescripts Cricket Club

2020–21 cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

2021–22 replaced by temporary regional competition