da gbg bet： The Mercantile Cricket Association Division A tournament starts this weekendwith defending champions Hatton National Bank once again favourites toemerge victorious in the six-week competition
CricInfo03-May-2002The Mercantile Cricket Association Division A tournament starts this weekendwith defending champions Hatton National Bank once again favourites toemerge victorious in the six-week competition.HNB have dominated the tournament in recent years and this year looks nodifferent, especially with their main competitors having been hit hard bythe absence of national players because of the current tour to England.They have a whole host of players with international experience, includingTillakaratne Dilshan, Avishka Gunawardene, Chamara Silva, Kumar Dharmasenaand Aklanka Ganegama.Seylan Bank, last years runner-up, have been hit particularly hard by SriLanka’s tour of England, losing Mahela Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, DilharaFernando and Thilan Samaraweera. They still, however, could be a force witha strong batting line-up led by Pradeep Hewage and Ian Daniel.Apart from the non-availability of star players, the other headache faced byMCA officials has been the weather. With play set to start on Saturday, thethreat of widespread disruptions grow, as heavy monsoon rains continue topound the city of Colombo on a daily basis.Match officials will, at least, be relieved by the organisers decision touse the “Parabola System” when making adjustments for lost time rather thanthe “Duckworth Lewis Method” which is more complicated, both conceptuallyand logistically.Singer and Access have pulled out of this year’s tournament, allowingCommercial Bank promotion from Division B.Sri Lanka Telecom, who signed up a number of first class players from ChilawMarians, requested entry straight into Division A in their first season ofMCA cricket but this was refused by the MCA executive committee.This leaves a total of seven sides, who will play 21 games in the groupstages before the top four progress to a knockout round that includes asemi-final and final.Singer are the main sponsors of the tournament.