Sri Lanka Cricket to conduct talent hunt in erstwhile LTTE region

Muttiah Muralitharan is one of the few Tamils to have played cricket for Sri Lanka © Getty Images

Colombo: Apr 29, 2013
 
Sri Lanka Cricket is all set to conduct a talent hunt in the erstwhile LTTE regions.

For two days in May in the northern capital of Jaffna, the SLC would run coaching camps and conduct a talent search for Under-14 to Under-19 age categories.

There will also be programmes for coaches and the Schools ‘Masters In Charge’ Program, a SLC release said.

A similar programme will also be conducted in the eastern provincial district of Batticaloa.

The people of the northern and eastern districts were a deprived lot for 30-long years during the separatist war.

However, the annual cricket match between Jaffna’s two leading schools — St John’s College and Central College — continued during the conflict also.

The north witnessed some action on the cricket field for the first time in decades when the Murali Cup, a Twenty20 tournament for the under 19s, was staged last year.

It involved teams from the region as well as the leading school teams from the south.

Only a very few Tamils could make it to the Sri Lanka national team since the country was admitted as a full member of the International Cricket Council in 1981.

Muttiah Muralitharan, a Tamil of Indian origin, and Russell Arnold are those who made it big at the international arena.