Final round commences sans leading lights

The final leg of the Premier trophy commences on Friday with a card of eight matches of which five are from the Super League. The initial two weekends of the competition however will be sans the national cricketers who have been asked to take a break from competitive cricket by the national coach Dav Whatmore. Nondescripts CC, who are defending their title and Sinhalese SC are the clubs that will be hit badly as they provide the majority of the players to the national side. Nondescripts CC will be trying their best to retain the title which they so handsomely won last season. They along with last season's runner up Burgher RC, Singhalese SC and Colts CC played in the Super Group of the preliminary round of the competition and they are joined in the Super League by six other clubs who have qualified from Groups 'A' and 'B'. Colombo CC, Panadura SC and Galle CC finished in the top three from Group 'A', while Bloomfield, Tamil Union and Moors finished similarly from Group 'B'. Moors have done well to enter the Super League having ended as runner-up to Sebastianites in the Plate championships last season. Thus eight clubs will compete for the Super League title, while the lesser fancied clubs, numbering nine will figure in the Plate championships. These include the bottom three clubs from Groups 'A' and 'B' and the top three clubs from the division I Sara trophy tournament - Moratuwa SC, Ambalangoda Rio SC and Kandy CC. Last season's Plate champions Sebastianites, Ragama CC and Air Force finished at the bottom of Group 'A', while Chilaw Marians, Kurunegala YCC and Antonian SC ended up similarly in Group 'B'.