Sri Lanka Cricket Unveils T20 World Cup Logo And Match Schedule

By Dinouk Colombage

Sri Lanka Cricket on Wednesday unveiled the logo and match schedule for next years T20 World Cup. The tournament will be hosted solely by Sri Lanka, and will be held between September 18 and October 7.
Sri Lanka Cricket, alongside the International Cricket Council, unveiled the tournament to the public at the Ceylon Continental on Wednesday evening. An evening that included a dance performance was capped of with a graphic show designed at revealing the tournament logo.
Sri Lanka has been grouped alongside South Africa and Zimbabwe and will play their group matches in Hambantota. Reigning champions England have been grouped alongside India and the second qualifying team. Australia, West Indies and the first qualifier make up group B, whilst New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh make up the final group.
The matches will be held in Kandy, Hambantota and Colombo, with the semi-finals and finals hosted in Colombo. For the first time in any sporting event, the women’s and men’s tournaments will be held alongside each other. The women’s matches will be played in Galle with the semi-finals and finals being hosted in Colombo.
The events were followed by a question and answer session involving Haroon Lorgat (CEO of the ICC), Upali Dharmadasa (Interim Chairman of SLC), Kumar Sangakarra and Sashikala Siriwardene (captain of the Sri Lanka Women’s team).
A surprise absence from the proceedings was Sri Lanka captain, T.M. Dilshan. SLC officials explained that he had flown that day to join the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the Champions League T20 which is being held in India. A rather disappointing show on the part of the captain who had previously promised to put national commitments ahead of the IPL.