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 *

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 * Galle Cricket Club * Kandy Customs Cricket Club * Negombo Cricket Club * Nugegoda Sports and Welfare Club *

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 * Sinhalese Sports Club * Sri Lanka Army Sports Club

Group B

* Ace Capital Cricket Club * Badureliya Sports Club * Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club * Chilaw Marians Cricket Club * Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club * Moors Sports Club * Nondescripts Cricket Club * Police Sports Club * Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club * Sebastianites Cricket and Athletic Club * 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 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 Kottasinghakkarage Nishan Madushka Fernando (born 10 September 1999) is a Sri Lankan cricketer currently plays as the opening batsman for national Test team. In April 2018, he was named in Dambulla's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day T ...

, 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 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

Robert Senanayake Trophy

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

:1980–81 Bloomfield C & AC :1981–82 Bloomfield C & AC

Lakspray Trophy

:1982–83 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 Colts Cricket Club :1992–93 Singhalese Sports Club :1993–94 Nondescripts Cricket Club :1994–95 Singhalese Sports Club and Bloomfield C & AC :1995–96

:1996–97 Bloomfield C & AC :1997–98 Singhalese Sports Club

Premier Championship

:1998–99 Bloomfield C & AC :1999–00 Colts Cricket Club :2000–01 Nondescripts Cricket Club :2001–02 Colts Cricket Club :2002–03 Moors Sports Club :2003–04 Bloomfield C & AC :2004–05 Colts Cricket Club :2005–06 Singhalese Sports Club :2006–07

:2007–08 Singhalese Sports Club :2008–09 Colts Cricket Club :2009–10 Chilaw Marians Cricket Club :2010–11 Bloomfield C & AC :2011–12 Colts Cricket Club :2012–13 Singhalese Sports Club :2013–14 Nondescripts Cricket Club :2014–15 Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club

Premier League Tournament

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

: 2019–20

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

Major League Tournament

:2022–23

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Sinhalese Sports Club and 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