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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

competition in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. 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.

Major League Tournament, 2022–23

The Major League Tournament in 2022–23 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 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 * Kalutara Town Club *

Kandy Customs Cricket Club Kandy Customs Sports Club is a first-class cricket team based in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Founded in 2019, they were one of the 24 teams to take part in the 2018–19 SLC Twenty20 Tournament, starting on 15 February 2019. In their opening match of t ...

* Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club * Lankan Cricket Club *

Moors Sports Club Moors Sports Club is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. History Moors Sports Club was founded by members of Colombo Grand Mosque at New Moor Street in the Colombo neighbourhood of Pettah. Like most clubs founded during the co ...

* Police Sports Club *

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 ...

* Sebastianites Cricket and Athletic Club *

Sinhalese Sports Club The Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. Singhalese is the most successful club in Sri Lankan domestic cricket, having won the Premier Trophy a record 32 times to 2017. Although the name is correctly spelt w ...

Group B

* Ace Capital Cricket Club *

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, which it has won eight times. History The club was ...

Chilaw Marians Cricket Club Chilaw Marians Cricket Club are a first-class cricket team based in Chilaw, Sri Lanka. They play their home games at FTZ Sports Complex. The club has won the Premier League one day Tournament in 2005. More successful in limited overs cricket, Chil ...

* Negombo Cricket Club *

Nondescripts Cricket Club Nondescripts Cricket Club (also known by its initials NCC) is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The team plays at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground. History The club was founded in 1888. The name "Nondescripts" is derived ...

Nugegoda Sports and Welfare Club Nugegoda Sports and Welfare Club is a multi-faceted Sri Lankan club founded in 1870. It is based in the Colombo suburb of Athurugiriya which is just to the north of Nugegoda. It is best known for its first-class cricket team which was formed b ...

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– ...

Saracens Sports Club The Saracens Sports Club (Saracens SC) is a Sri Lankan 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 one of three or more days ...

* Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club * Sri Lanka Army Sports Club * Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club *

Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club Tamil Union Cricket & Athletic Club is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They play their home games at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium. History The club can trace its roots back to the final years of the 19th century in which t ...

Final

The group winners were

and

who contested the MLT Final at the

Sinhalese Sports Club Ground The Singhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground (SSC Cricket Ground) ( si, සිංහල ක්‍රිඩා සමාජ ක්‍රීඩාංගනය; ta, சிங்களவர் விளையாட்டுக் கழக அரங ...

, 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 Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

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 A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

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 In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

". 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

: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

:1950–51 Tamil Union C & A Club :1951–52 Singhalese Sports Club :1952–53

:1953–54

:1954–55

:1955–56 Burgher Recreation Club :1956–57

:1957–58

:1958–59 Singhalese Sports Club :1959–60 Singhalese Sports Club :1960–61

:1961–62 Singhalese Sports Club :1962–63 University :1963–64 Bloomfield C & AC :1964–65

Nomads Sports Club Nomads Sports Club is a former first-class cricket team in Sri Lanka. Nomads are one of the oldest Sri Lankan cricket teams. They won the P Sara Trophy in 1964-65 and 1967-68 in the days before the competition had first-class status. They co ...

:1965–66 No competition :1966–67 Singhalese Sports Club :1967–68

:1968–69 Singhalese Sports Club :1969–70

:1970–71

:1971–72 Singhalese Sports Club :1972–73 Singhalese Sports Club :1973–74 Singhalese Sports Club :1974–75 Singhalese Sports Club :1975–76

Robert Senanayake Trophy

:1976–77

:1977–78 Singhalese Sports Club :1978–79

: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 &

:1986–87 Singhalese Sports Club :1987–88

:1988–89

& 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

: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

:2000–01

:2001–02

:2002–03

:2003–04 Bloomfield C & AC :2004–05

:2005–06 Singhalese Sports Club :2006–07

:2007–08 Singhalese Sports Club :2008–09

:2009–10

:2010–11 Bloomfield C & AC :2011–12

:2012–13 Singhalese Sports Club :2013–14

:2014–15

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club Ace Capital Cricket Club is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. It was originally founded in 1989 as the Seeduwa/Raddoluwa Cricket Club. In 2011, it became the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club. The SLPA withdrew sponsorship in October ...

Premier League Tournament

: 2015–16

: 2016–17 Singhalese Sports Club : 2017–18

: 2018–19

: 2019–20

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

Major League Tournament

:2022–23

Wins by Clubs

* † Extinct Clubs * Shared title

References

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