Badulla Sports Correspondent
A six-a-side cricket tournament for the Badulla Mayor's Cup will be conducted during latter part of this month organised by the Badulla District Cricket Association.
According to the Secretary of the B.D.C.A, R.M. Gunasekera, well over thirty teams are expected to participate in this tournament. Clubs willing to participate are requested to communicate with the Secretary C/o Badulla Library on or before the 15th of this month.
In the meantime the Division III tournament in Badulla may not attract many teams as last year due to the umpiring fees enforced onto the Clubs. Last year 22 teams participated in the Division III tournament. The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka had requested the Clubs participating in the Division III tournament to pay umpiring fees for the matches. According to the Clubs Secretaries in Badulla, they had to spend nearly Rs. 750 for each match being cost of a ball, lunch etc. and if they had to pay the umpiring fees, poor clubs cannot afford it as they have to play for nearly ten to 12 matches if there were more than 22 Clubs. The Clubs have now requested the BDCA to bear the cost of umpires' fees to enable the clubs to participate in this year's tournament.