Murali Harmony Cup returns to the Northern Sri Lanka

 Kushil, Sanga, Murali and Mahela at Media Event

 Crowd at one venue –Murali Cup 2012

MEDIA RELEASE, 24 October 2013 Sri Lanka cricket legends Muttiah Muralidharan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena announced the return of the Murali Harmony Cup to Northern Sri Lanka from 1-5 November at a media conference on Thursday night. The Murali Harmony Cup is a 20-team reconciliation cricket tournament staged to promote community-building and friendship in post-war Sri Lanka. The schoolboy tournament will follow the same format as the inaugural event held in 2012 with twelve U19 boy’s teams and eight U23 ladies’s club teams competing against each other in the northern towns of Jaffna, Oddusuddan, Mankulam, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya. The tournament also includes combined school teams from Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar-Vavuniya and Batticaloa-Trincomalee providing a unique opportunity for young cricketers from the north and east to play in an organised event. “This is a unique tournament that brings together Sri Lankan kids from different backgrounds to share their joy of cricket together,” said spinner Muralidharan, the highest wicket-taker in Test match history. “The tournament was very popular last year with big crowds, lots of fun and friendship, and everyone wanted it to continue so we decided we had to somehow make it happen again,” Muralidharan added. The five-day tournament has been jointly organised by Muralidaran’s charity the Foundation of Goodness and travel company Red Dot Tours with the support of the Sri Lanka Army and main sponsors Fortune Oil, MAS, Kia Motors, Aquafresh, Ministry of Crab and Sri Lanka Insurance.   Team line-up, 2012

The inaugural 2012 tournament was won by St Peter’s College and Sri Lanka Army Ladies. This year the qualifying school teams in the boys competition are St Peter’s College, Anuradhapura Central College, Trinity College, Richmond College, St Sebastian’s College and also a combined schools team from Uva Province.   Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena, also a Foundation of Goodness trustee, hopes that the tournament will help develop the game in Sri Lanka’s North and East. “Last year the tournament unearthed three exceptional cricketers from the north who are now playing with leading First Class clubs and this year too I am confident we’ll see some really talented cricketers,” Jayawardena said.

GROUPS

Jaffna – Group C at St Patrick’s College (Boys)  1. Jaffna Combined Schools 2. Mannar / Vavuniya Combined Schools 3. St Peter’s College – Colombo 4. Anuradhapura Central College                

Kilinochchi – Group E at Central College Grounds (Boys)      1. Kilinochchi Combined Schools 2. Batticaloa / Trinco Combined Schools 3. Trinity College – Kandy 4. Cricket Seenigama

Oddusuddan – Group D at IODR Oval (Boys) 1. Mullaitivu Combined Team 2. Richmond College – Galle 3. St Sebastian’s College – Katuneriya 4. Uva Province Combined Schools               

Mankulam – Group A at Mankulam MV Grounds (Ladies) 1. Seenigama Ladies 2. Colombo Colts Ladies 3. Nittambuwa Ladies 4. Eastern Province Ladies                           

Vavuniya – Group B at Vavuniya Central College (Ladies)      1. North Province Ladies 2. Shakthi Ladies 3. Army Ladies 4. North Central Province Ladies

 Kushil Gunasekera speaking

About the Murali Harmony Cup The 2013 Murali Harmony Cup is being played at five grounds across Northern Sri Lanka in the towns of Jaffna, Oddusuddan, Mankulam, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya from 1-5 November.  It is a reconciliation and community-building Twenty20 cricket tournament featuring U19 schoolboys and U23 women cricketers designed to promote unity, goodwill, teamwork, the spirit of fair play and, more importantly, service to disadvantaged rural communities.  Twelve boys’ teams and eight ladies’ teams from across Sri Lanka are playing two matches every day at each ground, with the finals on 5 November at Kilinochchi Central College. Media Notes:   For all the latest news and information on the Murali Cup 2013, please visit – www.themuralicup.com. For further information please contact: Media Manager: Shyam Impett on (+94) 777 390459 Email: info@themuralicup.com   Ends.