A new cricket format designed to give boys and girls equal responsibility for match results will make its debut in Sri Lanka next month, with 160 young players set to compete in the inaugural Test Twenty tournament.
The competition will take place at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo from November 14 to 29, 2026, introducing an 80-over structure that combines red-ball and white-ball cricket within a single day.
Four continental teams will compete in the opening edition, with matches broadcast live on Sony Sports Network.
How the Test Twenty format works
Test Twenty brings boys’ and girls’ cricket together under one team result, while retaining separate contests between players of the same gender.
Each team will field a girls’ XI against the opposition’s girls’ XI and a boys’ XI against the opposing boys’ XI. Runs from both contests will count towards a combined score, with the overall total determining the winning team.
The system, known as the Parity Rule, means performances in either contest can influence the final outcome for the entire team.
Matches will consist of 80 overs, divided equally between two playing conditions. The opening 40 overs will take place during daylight hours using a red ball and traditional white clothing, followed by 40 overs under floodlights with a white ball and coloured kits.
Scores will carry forward between the two sessions rather than restarting when the playing conditions change.
The toss will also have an additional dimension, determining not only which team bats first but whether the boys’ or girls’ contest begins the match.
Global player selection and continental teams
The tournament will feature 160 cricketers aged between 13 and 21, divided into four squads of 40 players each.
Every squad will contain 20 boys and 20 girls, creating an equal representation of male and female players across the competition.
Thousands of aspiring cricketers from five continents registered for consideration, with candidates assessed through in-person and online trials conducted over approximately 300 days.
A Global Selection Committee chaired by Indian cricket coach Rajkumar Sharma has overseen the process, with the final 160 players — 80 boys and 80 girls — set to be confirmed through a draft later in October.
Cricket veterans back Test Twenty initiative
Test Twenty has assembled an advisory board featuring former international stars AB de Villiers, Matthew Hayden and Sir Clive Lloyd.
Mike Fordham will lead tournament operations, while Rajkumar Sharma brings experience as the former coach of Virat Kohli.
The initiative was introduced in October 2025 by Parity Sports, with Founder Gaurav Bahirvani positioning it as a dedicated platform for emerging cricketers.
Bahirvani said in a statement: “A year ago this week, I introduced Test Twenty to the world with AB, Matthew, Sir Clive, Mike and Rohit beside me. It was an idea on paper, and a promise to young cricketers everywhere: a format of their own, a tournament of their own, and an ecosystem built around them. On 14 November, that promise walks out for the first time, at the SSC in Colombo. Parity is not only in the rules or the way our game is played. It is in the broadcast. Some nights, it will be the girls under the floodlights, in primetime, in front of the world. Other nights, the boys. Every night, one scoreboard.”
Sri Lanka to host inaugural season
Colombo’s SSC will stage the tournament’s opening ceremony on November 14, with the final scheduled for November 29 and November 30 reserved as a contingency day.
Sri Lanka Cricket and the SSC are supporting the inaugural competition, which will bring together young players from across the world at one of the country’s established cricket venues.
Bahirvani added: “We found the right home for it. Sri Lanka fills a stadium for a ‘schoolboy’ match. No country on earth loves its young cricketers the way this island does. From our very first meeting, the leadership at Sri Lanka Cricket has been very supportive and encouraging. Then the President and Committee of the SSC warmly opened their doors to our young cricketers from every corner of the world. We are deeply grateful to them all. For the first time in the history of the game, girls and boys will win together, or lose together. That moment now belongs to Sri Lanka. We are all going to Colombo.”
