The Major League Tournament (formerly known as the Premier Trophy) is the main domestic

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

competition in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. 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. 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. This was contested by five provincial teams: Colombo District, Dambulla District, Galle District, Jaffna District and Kandy District. 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. 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.

Teams

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

Group A

Burgher Recreation Club Burgher Recreation Club is a first-class cricket and hockey club based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. History The club was founded on 26 December 1896 as the Bambalapitya Recreation Club, with membership restricted to the Burgher community. The first ...

Colombo Cricket Club The Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. It is the oldest in the country, having been formed in 1863, and is headquartered at 31 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7, close to the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket. Hi ...

Colts Cricket Club Colts Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They have won 6 first class tournaments of Sri Lanka domestic league as in 1991/92, 1999/2000, 2001/02, 2004/05, 2008/09 and 2011/12 and 2 Premier Limited Overs Tourna ...

Galle Cricket Club Galle Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team based in Galle, Sri Lanka. They play their home games at Galle International Stadium, which was reconstructed after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. In the 2016–17 season, they took part in the Pr ...

* Kandy Customs Cricket Club *

Negombo Cricket Club Negombo Cricket Club is a cricket team in Sri Lanka. In March 2017, they made a legal challenge against Sri Lanka Cricket after they were removed from Tier B of the 2016–17 Premier League Tournament. This prevented the 2016–17 Premier Limited ...

Nugegoda Sports and Welfare Club Nugegoda Sports and Welfare Club, commonly abbreviated as NSWC, is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. It is one of the 14 affiliated clubs of Sri Lanka Cricket. Tillakaratne Sampath is the current captain of the club. History Nugegoda Sport ...

Panadura Sports Club Panadura Sports Club is a first-class cricket team based in Panadura, Sri Lanka. Their home ground is the Panadura Public Ground History Panadura Sports Club has been in existence since 1924. The team has played first-class cricket since 1988– ...

Ragama Cricket Club Ragama Cricket Club are a first-class cricket team based in Ragama, Sri Lanka. Their home ground is the Free Trade Zone Sports Complex. History Ragama Cricket Club was formed in 1989. It achieved promotion to first-class status in 2001. At the ...

Sinhalese Sports Club The Sinhalese people, Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) was a first-class cricket club in Colombo, Sri Lanka till 2025 when they were relegated after enduring a horrendous 2024-25 version of the Major Club 3 day tournament in which they could only m ...

* Sri Lanka Army Sports Club

Group B

Ace Capital Cricket Club Coach_ Thisera Captain _ Chaninda Bandara Ace Capital Cricket Club is a first-class cricket club based in Negombo, Sri Lanka. It was originally founded in 1989 as the Seeduwa/Raddoluwa Cricket Club. In 2011, it became the Sri Lanka Ports Authority ...

Badureliya Sports Club Badureliya Sports Club is a first-class cricket team in Sri Lanka. It plays its home matches at Surrey Village Cricket Ground, Maggona. In late 2008, the club threatened to boycott the Sri Lankan domestic tournaments due to their objections to be ...

Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is one of Sri Lanka's oldest cricket clubs founded in 1892 and competes in the Premier Trophy The Major League Tournament (formerly known as th ...

* Chilaw Marians Cricket Club * Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club * Moors Sports Club * Nondescripts Cricket Club *Sri Lanka Police Sports Club (cricket), Police Sports Club * Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club (cricket), Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club * Sebastianites Cricket and Athletic Club * Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club (cricket), Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club * Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club

Former Team

* Kalutara Town Club * Lankan Cricket Club * Saracens Sports Club

Final

The group winners were

and Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club who contested the MLT Final at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, starting on 17 November 2022. 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 century (cricket), 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". The "Player of the Series" award went to Ragama batsman Nishan Madushka, who scored 1,229 runs.

List of winners

The champion team in each season since 1938 has been:

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 Cricket and Athletic Club, 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 Cricket and Athletic Club, 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

: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 Cricket and Athletic Club, 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

Robert Senanayake Trophy

:1976–77 Nondescripts Cricket Club :1977–78 Singhalese Sports Club :1978–79 Nondescripts Cricket Club :1979–80

:1980–81 Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Bloomfield C & AC :1981–82 Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Bloomfield C & AC

Lakspray Trophy

:1982–83 Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Bloomfield C & AC :1983–84 Singhalese Sports Club :1984–85

:1985–86 Singhalese Sports Club & Nondescripts Cricket Club :1986–87 Singhalese Sports Club :1987–88

:1988–89 Nondescripts Cricket Club & Singhalese Sports Club (inaugural first-class season) :1989–90 Singhalese Sports Club :1990–91 Singhalese Sports Club

P. Saravanamuttu Trophy

:1991–92

:1992–93 Singhalese Sports Club :1993–94 Nondescripts Cricket Club :1994–95 Singhalese Sports Club and Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Bloomfield C & AC :1995–96

:1996–97 Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Bloomfield C & AC :1997–98 Singhalese Sports Club

Premier Championship

:1998–99 Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Bloomfield C & AC :1999–00

:2000–01 Nondescripts Cricket Club :2001–02

:2002–03 Moors Sports Club :2003–04 Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Bloomfield C & AC :2004–05

:2005–06 Singhalese Sports Club :2006–07

:2007–08 Singhalese Sports Club :2008–09

:2009–10 Chilaw Marians Cricket Club :2010–11 Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Bloomfield C & AC :2011–12

:2012–13 Singhalese Sports Club :2013–14 Nondescripts Cricket Club :2014–15 Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club

Premier League Tournament

:2015–16 Premier League Tournament, 2015–16 Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club :2016–17 Premier League Tournament, 2016–17 Singhalese Sports Club :2017–18 Premier League Tournament, 2017–18 Chilaw Marians Cricket Club :2018–19 Premier League Tournament, 2018–19

:2019–20 Premier League Tournament, 2019–20

:2020–21 cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic :2021–22 replaced by temporary regional competition

Major League Tournament

:2022–23

:2023 Major League Tournament, 2023

and Sri Lanka Police Sports Club (cricket), Police Sports Club ;2024–25

Wins by Clubs

* † Extinct Clubs * Shared title

References

{{First-class Cricket Domestic Competitions Cricket leagues in Sri Lanka First-class cricket competitions Sri Lankan domestic cricket competitions