A Sri Lanka Schools Under-19 team will be included for the first time in the Premier League knock-out tournament to be conducted by the Mercantile Cricket Association (MCA).
A total of seven teams will be seen in action when the Premier League begins next weekend.
The decision to enter the school team was made after Sri Lanka Cricket had given its sanction to include it. They will be allowed to compete in the League and Knock-out tournaments and not the T20 event.
These details were revealed by the senior Vice President of MCA Nalin Wickremasinghe to the media on Wednesday (2). He noted that the inclusion of young cricketers to confront the seniors will be of great importance for them as they will be able to gain more experience after facing the best from the MCA League and knock-out tourneys.
This year the number of teams will be reduced to seven as four teams, MAS Silueta, TJ Lanka, Commercial Credit and Kanrich Group of Companies have pulled out.
The League tourney will be played on a round robin basis while the knock-outs will consist of six games. The T/20 matches are scheduled to commence on November 25 and will be played among six teams to conclude on November 30.
The Championship is sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka for the 27th consecutive year and will be played for Singer Trophy.
Singer Sri Lanka director marketing Kumar Samarasinghe handed over the sponsorship cheque to the MCA.
The League winners will be presented the Singer Trophy and the special awards on offer are for the Best Batsman, Best Bowler and Man of the Series. The T/20 awards are for the Best Batsman, Best Bowler and Man of the Final.
A special award for the League will be awarded only to the Man of the Final.