The Inter-Provincial cricket tournament involving all top cricketers in the country got underway on Friday with the five Provincial teams and Sri Lanka Cricket Combined XI playing their first games of the season.

The Inter-Provincial tournament introduced to increase the competiveness in the domestic circuit has attracted a lot of interest in the past.

However, questions have been asked about the necessity of an Inter-Provincial tournament as there’s already a well established Inter-Club domestic tournament, but due to the large number of teams in the club structure, it’s felt that the quality of cricket gets diluted.

Some have argued that rather than a Provincial tournament an Inter-Club competition with a fewer number of clubs could sort out the problems of domestic structure, but due to the constant political interference this has never been possible.

The teams taking part in the Inter-Provincial tournament are Basnahira North, Basnahira South, Wayamba, Kandurata, Ruhuna and SLC Combined XI. These teams will be captained by Hans Fernando (SLC Combined XI), Jehan Mubarak (Wayamba), Upul Tharanga (Ruhuna), Kumar Sangakkara (Kandurata), Thilina Kandamby (Basnahira North) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (Basnahira South).

"With all leading players in the country involved in the elite domestic championship, the quality of cricket will be extremely high," Secretary of Cricket Interim Committee Nishantha Ranatunga said addressing a media briefing called to announce the tournament.

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, the captain of Kandurata team too spoke highly of the competitive nature of the tournament "From the very first provincial tournament we played, we felt that that was the best first class competition. This certainly is a great start and we need to do some fine tuning to get the best competition possible."

While in previous years, the Inter-Provincial tournament has been limited to just one or two formats of the game, this time all three formats – T-20, One-Dayers and four day games will be played. The ODIs will be worked off from the 6th of February to the 21st of February.

There will be 15 round-robin matches held at Kurunegala, Galle, Colombo (at Colts grounds, NCC, Moors and P. Sara), Moratuwa and Pallekele. Moratuwa and NCC will host the two semi-finals while the grand final will be played on the 21st of February at Moratuwa.

This will be followed by the Inter-Provincial Four day tournament and the T-20 Tournament. Most national players, however, will not be available for most part of the four day competition due to their commitments with the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament.

Dr. Gamini Wickramasinghe, Chairman of Bank of Ceylon handed over the sponsorship cheque to Nishantha Ranatunga during the media briefing on Thursday. Also present during the briefing were Malik Ahmadeen (from MAS Holdings sponsors of Kandurata) and Nihal Jayasena (from Hirdaramani sponsors of Ruhuna).

Basnahira North: Thilina Kandamby (Capt), Angelo Mathews, (Vice-Captain), Chaminda Vaas, Amal Athulathmudali, Dilshan Munaweera, Gayan Wijekoon, Sachithra Serasinghe, Kaushal Silva, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Shanuka Dissanayake, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Darshanapriya, Roshen Silva, Sohan Borelassa and Angelo Perera.

Basnahira South: Tillakaratne Dilshan (Capt), Chamara Silva (Vice-Captain), Malintha Warnapura, Milinda Siriwardene, Hasantha Fernando, Gihan Rupasinghe, Prasanna Jayawardene, Nuwan Zoysa, Malinga Bandara, Suranga Lakmal, Janaka Gunaratne, Dilruwan Perera, Lahiru Thirimanna, Amila Prasad, Chinthaka Perera, Dinuk Hettiarachchi, Yohan de Silva and Ruchira Perera.

Kandurata: Kumar Sangakkara (Capt), Muttia Muralitharan (Vice-Captain), Chamara Kapugedera, Suraj Randiv, Kanchana Gunawardene, Sanjaya Gangodawila, Jeewan Mendis, Tharanga Paranavithana, Kaushal Weeraratne, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Thilina Thushara, Nadeera Nawela, Chaminda Vidanapathirana, Kanishka Elvitigala, Seekkuge Prasanna, Thilan Samaraweera, Sachith Pathirana and Suresh Niroshan.

Wayamba: Jehan Mubarak (Capt), Mahela Udawatte (Vice-Captain), Mahela Jayawardene, Jeewantha Kulatunga, Farveez Maharoof, Tissara Perera, Sameera Soysa, Ajantha Mendis ,Shalika Karunanayaka, Isuru Udana, Rakitha Wimaladharma, Chanaka Welegedara, Rangana Herath, Kaushalya Lokuarachchi, Michael Van Dort, Madura Lakmal, Damith Hunukumbura and Janith Perera.

Ruhuna: Upul Tharanga (Capt), Dinesh Chandimal (Vice-Captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Indika de Saram, Tillakaratne Sampath, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Kosala Kulasekara, Tharanga Lakshitha, Lasith Malinga, Sujeewa de Silva, N. G. H. Cooray, Sachithra Senanayaka, Ashan Priyanjana, Gihan de Silva, Sajeewa Weerakoon, Lasith Fernando, Geeth Alwis and Umesh Karunaratne.

SLC Combined XI: Hans Fernando (Capt), Banuka Rajapakse (Vice-Captain), Kithruwan Vidanage, Udara Jayasundara, Romesh Buddika, W. A. Eranga, J. R. G. Namal, Sanjaya Fernando, Imesh Udayanga, Malinga Pushpakumara, Andre Berenger, Charith Jayampathi, Lahiru Gamage, Arosh Janoda, Nilanka Premaratne, Danushka Gunathilake, Chatura Peiris and Ranesh Perera.