The Sri Lankan Memon Community will conduct their Memon Premier League (MPL) T20 cricket tournament in Colombo from 24th to 30th August. Six teams of the community will participate that will be conducted in Sri Lanka for the second time.
The six teams will be from the Chapters of Africa, Europe, the Far East, Middle East, India and Pakistan. Sri Lanka belongs to the Far East Chapter, and received the blessings of the World Memon Organisation (WMO) to organise this tournament after a successful completion of the MPL1 in February 2013.
The champions in 2013 were Pakistan who beat India in the final. The bonds of friendship, the level of competition and the fellowship achieved at the first tournament are still fresh in the minds of all involved.
The sponsors of the MPL 2 are Phoenix Industries as Platinum sponsor and Expo Freight – EFL being the Gold sponsor.
The tournament will be played to international rules covering Twenty -20 cricket. The matches will be officiated by an internationally recognized panel of umpires and officials. Former Sri Lanka cricketer and ICC Elite panel umpire Asoka de Silva will be the Match referee for the whole tournament.
The 13th AGAM of the World Memon Organization, the 3rd International Youth Conference and the International Ladies Wing meeting will also be held during this period to coincide with the tournament to give the participants an added reason to be here.
All teams will be trying to get their hands on the WMO Presidents Challenge Trophy. Every game will have a Man of the Match award, in addition to the Best Bowler, Best Batsman and Most Valuable Player awards at the tournament.
A.C. Saleem, Vice President of WMO FC said that they were privileged that Sri Lanka was selected to host this event for the second time. He said that Memons loved to indulge in cricket and want such an event to take place once in two years.
“Those who will represent Sri Lanka will be between the ages of 16 to 30 years and they have been practicing hard for this tournament. We hope to see a memon player represent Sri Lanka at national level in another 6 to 7 years time,” said Saleem.
He also added that former test players are involved in this tournament as coaches. Saqlain Mushtaq is coach of the England team and Basit Ali is coach of Pakistan. Sri Lanka is coached by Asoka de Silva and have been practicing for the past three months.
