By Ishani Upatharitha There will be 36 teams, slotted in four Groups, which will be participating in this year’s Singer Trophy Under-19 Division I inter-schools cricket tournament form the second week of September. This will be conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) with Singer Sri Lanka PLC Ltd as the sole sponsor. Each Group will include nine teams and each team will be playing in eight games. Each team will also play a maximum of seven traditional fixtures in the season. All teams should play a minimum of three tournament matches and two traditional fixtures, to be completed before 31 December 2018. Four teams from each Group will advance to pre-quarterfinals. From pre-quarterfinal onwards, the tournament will be played on the knock-out basis and as two-day matches. The league stage of the tournament is to be completed on or before 15 February 2019. The Groups were seeded from last season’s standings. St. Joseph’s College, Colombo emerged the championship last season. Trinity College, Kandy was the runner-up. Devapathiraja and St. Anne’s promoted to Div. I - Devapathiraja College, Rathgama and St. Anne’s College, Kurunegala were promoted to Division I from II for the tournament. St. John’s College, Panadura and Bandaranayake College, Gampaha were meanwhile demoted to Division II from Division I. Richmond College, Galle were the previous champions in the limited-overs tournament and St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya were the runner-up. THE GROUPS Group A: St. Joseph’s College - Colombo, Mahinda College - Galle, Gurukula College - Kelaniya, Maris Stella College - Negombo, Devapathiraja College - Rathgama, St. Benedict’s College - Kotahena, Maliyadeva College - Kurunegala, Isipathana College - Colombo, and St. Sylvester’s College - Kandy                      Group B: Prince of Wales’ College - Moratuwa, Nalanda College - Colombo, St. Peter’s College - Colombo, D.S. Senanayake College - Colombo, Zahira College - Colombo, Lumbini College - Colombo, De Mazenod College - Kandana, President’s College - Rajagiriya, and Dharmashoka College - Ambalangoda Group C: Mahanama College - Colombo, St. Sebastian’s College - Moratuwa, S. Thomas’ College - Mt. Lavinia, St. Aloysius’ College - Galle, Dharmaraja College - Kandy, St. Servatius’ College - Matara, Moratu Vidyalaya, St. Joseph Vaz College - Wennappuwa, and St. Mary’s College - Kegalle Group D: Trinity College - Kandy, Ananda College - Colombo, Richmond College - Galle, Thurstan College - Colombo, St. Anne’s College - Kurunegala, St. Thomas College - Matara, St. Anthony’s College - Wattala, Dharmapala College - Pannipitiya, and Wesley College – Colombo.