Inter-Provincial Cricket was a cricket tournament that included the three domestic cricket competitions in Sri Lanka. It started with the Inter-Provincial First Class Tournament in 1990 because of the general idea that club cricket alone would be not enough to keep Sri Lanka cricket competitive. The tournament stopped after the 1994–95 season but was revived 10 years later with the 2003–04 season and disestablished again in 2010. Sri Lanka remains today as the only Test cricket playing country to have club cricket as their form of first-class cricket with the Premier Trophy. The Inter-Provincial Limited Over Tournament and Inter-Provincial Twenty20 were created for the 2007–08 domestic season. The last First Class Tournament was held in 2009–10. The Twenty20 tournament was last held in 2011 and subsequently replaced by the Sri Lanka Premier League.
History From the tournament's inauguration, participating teams varied from year to year. 1990 the tournament started with four provincial teams. They were Western Province, Central Province, Southern Province and North Western Province. But in 1991 Western province as the major player contributor to Sri Lankan Cricket had two teams, the City team and the Suburb team. Then three teams in 1992 and therefore total teams participating was six. In 1993 Western Province presented three teams again as one City team and two suburban teams. After nearly 10 years of hiatus, the tournament revived in 2004. Teams yet again changed, only one team from the Western province and teams for North Central Province, Uva Province participated for the first time. Then again in 2008 Limited Over Tournament comprised two teams from Western province. For the Twenty20 Tournament 2008, five provincial teams and schools invited team participated.
Teams
Teams participation by series
List of the teams for each tournament as follows. Team Series 1990 1990/91 1992 1993/94 1994/95 2003/04 2004/05 Western Province Western Province City, Suburbs Suburbs, North, South City, North, South Western Province Central Province Central Province Southern Province Southern Province North Western Province North Western Province North Central Province North Central Province Uva Province Uva Province
Teams participation by series, from 2007/08 From the 2007/08 Inter-provincial limited overs tournament started naming teams in Sinhalese.
Team Series 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 Western Province Basnahira North, Basnahira South Basnahira Central Province Kandurata Southern Province Ruhuna North Western Province Wayamba Uva Province Uva Eastern Province Nagenahira Sri Lanka Schools XI Sri Lanka School XI (Twenty20 only)
Current teams
Team name Home ground Firstseason Basnahira NorthWestern Province North R. Premadasa Stadium 1992as Western Province in 1990 Basnahira SouthWestern Province South Sinhalese Sports Club Ground 1992as Western Province in 1990 KandurataCentral Province Asgiriya Stadium 1990 RuhunaSouthern Province Galle International Stadium 1990 WayambaNorth Western Province Welagedara Stadium 1990
Former Teams Team name Home ground Firstseason Western ProvinceWestern Province 1990 Western Province CityWestern Province Cities 1990–91 Western Province SuburbsWestern Province Suburbs 1990–91 North Central ProvinceNorth Central Province 2003–04 UvaUva 2003–04
See also Inter-Provincial First Class Tournament Inter-Provincial Limited Over Tournament Inter-Provincial Twenty20
References
External links Cricinfo-provincial archive