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AN INDEPTH ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL CRICKET IN SRI LANKA How and when school cricket started in Sri LankaCricket to Sri Lanka was first introduced by the British rulers when Sri Lanka became one of their colonies in the middle part of the eighteenth century. St.Thomas College, Mount Lavinia when it was located in Mutwal, Colombo became the first ever Ceylonese school to play cricket when they played a cricket match in 1864 with a small cricket club in Sri Lanka. St.Thomas College, Mt.Lavinia continued to play cricket matches with clubs and other teams until 1877 as there was no other school that was playing cricket at that time in the island. It was 1877 in which year another cricket playing school came into existence with the arrival of Ashley Walker, a Cambridge-educated Englishman in the island to take up duties as an assistant to the principal of the Colombo Academy in Pattah which was subsequently renamed Royal College and shifted to Reid Avenue. In 1878, the first ever inter-school cricket match was played between St.Thomas College, Mt.Lavinia and the Colombo Academy team (Royal College) which with the passage of time blossomed out to be the Royal-Thomian encounter. Royal vs. Thomian big match thus became the second oldest bilateral series between a two schools in the world.

How school cricket expanded in Sri Lanka It is a common factor that wherever British Emperor had colonies in the world, cricket as a game became popular among the people of such countries. This applied to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) as well. Since St.Thomas College, Mt.Lavinia and Royal College, Colombo started to play cricket, big schools in Kandy, Galle, Matara and Jaffna also included cricket as a game in their sports programmes. Gradually cricket became one of the crowd-pullers wherever it was played in Sri Lanka and one of the most popular games among the sports loving public. By this time Sri Lankan governments too realized the importance of developing cricket as a national programme and as a result various development projects such as constructing grounds with all necessary infrastructure facilities, encouraging more schools to play cricket by providing necessary funds as cricket was an expensive game were undertaken by then governments with a view to bringing schools as a nursery for forming a strong national team to represent Sri Lanka at international level.

Governors of school cricket in Sri Lanka-Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) The main body that governed and looked after the cricket in Sri Lanka initially was a board called ‘Board of Control for cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL)’ with full blessings of then governments which later was renamed ‘Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC)’. With the vast development and expansion of school cricket in the country it became necessary for the main control body (SLC) to have an Association to assist them in activities relevant to school cricket and with this requirement ‘Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) came into existence in the year 1948.

Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) SLSCA that was an idea conceived in the minds of a group of school Principals way back in 1930 was officially formed in 1948 with Rev. J. S. Carter, Principal of Wesley College, as its first president. Since then SLSCA started to take the full responsibility in decision making, arranging island wide inter school tournaments, appointing office bearers at school level etc. as far as the school cricket was concerned. In Sri Lanka, school cricket is played in a well organized manner without hampering the other activities of people involved. In most cricket playing countries school cricket is not played competitively and hardly any recognition it receives at core level, but in Sri Lanka, players are given enough opportunities to expose themselves competitively and as a result best teams gain due recognition for their hard work. There are hardly any countries in the world where school cricket tournaments from U13 to U19 age groups are coordinated in such a way the SLSCA do it in Sri Lanka and therefore the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association is considered to be one of the best organizations in the world cricket.

Basic inter-school tournaments currently conducted by SLSCA-Laws & authority The tournaments as far as the school cricket is concerned are conducted under the laws of cricket 2000 code 4th edition and ICC playing conditions with special conditions laid down by SLSCA. A tournament committee that is appointed by SLSCA for each tournament has the full authority on all matters relating to the respective tournaments and they do take the responsibility of conducting tournaments with complete control over it. Eligibility for participation All member schools affiliated to SLSCA are eligible to take part in tournaments organized and conducted by SLSCA.

Schools and tournament categorization • Teams of all age groups – Under 19, 17, 15 & 13 are graded as Division 1, 11 & 111 according to the strength of the teams involved in respective age groups. • Tournaments of respective age groups have a fixed duration to complete the tournament in a given year as follows: U19 – D1, 11 & 111 o U19 age group of Division1 and 11 commences its two-day league tournaments in September and goes on till end February following year and Division 111 plays its two-day league matches from September to end January following year. U17 & 15 – D1, 11 & 111 o U17 and U15 limited over tournaments start around May after the completion of the U19 tournaments and go on till August. U13 – D1, 11 & 111 o U13 tournaments that commence around September after the completion of U17 & U15 tournaments end in December.

Promotions and demotions U19 – D1, 11 & 111 o Two teams of Division 11 who are taking highest average points at the main tournament are promoted to Division 1 o The champion and the runner up team of Division 111 limited over knock out tournament are eligible for promotion to Division 11. o Two league tournaments are conducted for Division 1 and 11 separately among the three schools in each division who get lowest average points at the two-day league tournaments. The two schools out of three who score lowest average points are demoted to respective lower grades (D1 schools to D11 & D11 schools to D111). U17 & 15 – D1, 11 & 111 o Two teams each from Division 1 & 11, who are last in the points table are demoted to Division 11 and 111 respectively and the two top teams of D11 and 111 are promoted to Division 1 and 11 respectively. Schools participation UNDER 19 TOURNAMENTS As per the records of 2013/14 tournaments there were 37 schools in Division 1, 29 in division 11 and 142 in division 111, 208 teams all together for the initial participation UNDER 17 TOURNAMENTS

2013/14 season statistics indicate that 77 schools in Division 1, 32 in division 11 and 150 in division 111,   amounting to a total of 259 teams took part. 

UNDER 15 TOURNAMENTS For Initial participation there were 585 teams in 2013/14 season; 80 schools in Division 1, 73 in division 11 and 432 in division 111. UNDER 13 TOURNAMENTS Details will be provided in due course

How the champions are selected UNDER 19 MAIN TOURNAMENTS • Two day league tournament Group matches among all Teams confirmed the participation in each division are played in three tournaments (U19 – D1, U19 – D11 & U19 – D111) and two teams that top the points table of D1 and D11 are declared champions of two-day league tournaments. At league level (in two-day tourney) a champion team in D111 is not selected. • Limited over tournament  First 30 teams of D1 two-day tourney, first 14 teams of D11 two-day tourney and first 4 teams of D111 two-day tourney, 48 teams all together play group matches (12 groups) in the first round and then the 12 group leaders and 4 best teams out of runners up in each group play knock-out matches in the final round for selection of the limited over champions.  In addition to the above tournament, a knock-out limited over tournament involving only the teams that complete 5 matches in the D111 two-day tournament is conducted to select the limited over champions of schools in division 111. • T20 tournament The 16 teams that were qualified to play in the pre-quarter finals of the limited over tourney play T20 matches for the T20 title on knock out basis.

UNDER 17 MAIN TOURNAMENTS • Two day league tournament No two day tournament for U17 age group. • Limited over tournament Group matches among all Teams confirmed the participation in each division are played in three tournaments (U17 – D1, U17 – D11 & U17 – D111) on league basis in the first round and:

Division 1 - Top 3 teams in each group plus the best two teams out of best 4th teams of all groups, 32 schools all together go through to the second round that too is conducted on league basis after grouping and then the top two teams of each group in the second round (16 teams) play matches on knock-out basis (from pre-qtr final stage) until the champion team is selected.

Division 11 - Top 2 teams in each group, 16 schools all together go through to the second round that too is conducted on league basis after grouping and then the top two teams of each group in the second round (8 teams) play matches on knock-out basis (from quarter final stage) until the champion team is selected.

Division 111 – No. of teams qualified to the second round depend on the number of teams that participate in the first round. However, second round also is conducted on league basis and then a knock-out round comes into play in order to select the champions. UNDER 15 MAIN TOURNAMENTS • Two day league tournament No two day tournament for U15 age group. • Limited over tournament Group matches among all Teams confirmed the participation in each division are played in three tournaments (U15 – D1, U15 – D11 & U15 – D111) on league basis in the first round and:

Division 1 - Top 4 teams in each group, 40 schools all together go through to the second round that too is conducted on league basis after grouping and then the top two teams of each division in the second round (16 teams) play matches on knock-out basis (from pre-qtr final stage) until the champion team is selected. Division 11 - Top 3 teams in groups with 7 teams and top 2 teams in groups with 6 or less teams together with the best 3 of 3rd positioned teams in groups with 6 teams or less, 32 schools all together go through to the second round that too is conducted on league basis after grouping and then the top two teams of each division in the second round (16 teams) play matches on knock-out basis (from pre-quarter final stage) until the champion team is selected.

Division 111 - Top 2 teams in each group, 168 schools all together go through to the second round that too is conducted on league basis after grouping and then the top 90 teams in the second round are split into 8 groups and matches are played among them on knock-out basis to select group leaders of the 8 groups. These top 8 teams in each group then start playing matches from quarter final stage for selection of champions.

UNDER 13 MAIN TOURNAMENTS Details will be provided in due course

Other tournaments UNDER 17 A provincial 2-day tournament involving 5 provinces is conducted after forming provincial teams on performances at the main tournaments

UNDER 15 o An under 15 limited over tournament at district level is conducted after forming district teams on performances at the main tournament. o An under 15 limited over tournament at provincial level is conducted after forming provincial teams on performances at district tournament for selection of Provincial champions. Main sponsors o Singer Sri Lanka take the sponsorship of the main tournaments of all age groups o U15 District and provincial tournaments are sponsored by Prima Company. o www.batsman.com is the main stats provider and web based media partner especially for school cricket U19 • For the second leg of this tournament (limited over tournament), 30 teams from division1, 14 from division 11 and 4 from division 111 were qualified as per the results in the first round • The 16 teams that were qualified to play in the pre-quarter final of the limited over tournament took part in the T20 tournament that was the last part of this U19 tournament.