Guwahati, Nov. 27: The newly-formed Meghalaya Cricket Association (MCA) is planning to organise a Northeast level Twenty20 cricket tournament, involving teams from all the BCCI affiliated states of the region, in Shillong early next year.

In the annual calendar of events of the MCA, the T20 tournament will be the only event involving teams from outside the hill state.

Teams from Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, apart from the hosts, will participate in the invitation tournament from January 19 to 23.

The Twenty20 tournament will carry a prize money of Rs 3 lakh.

The MCA is also trying to involve a few former international cricketers in the tournament representing different teams, secretary Naba Bhattacharjee said.

The teams, particularly those from Assam and Tripura, are expected to get a good “dress rehearsal” in the tournament ahead of the BCCI East Zone Twenty20 tournament to be held in Guwahati in March.

Besides, the MCA has also introduced a corporate league in the Twenty20 format.

The first edition will be held from April 3 to 5 in Shillong.

The corporate tournaments encourage the corporate sector to recruit professional cricketers in different capacities, creating employment avenues.

The senior and under-19 inter-district tournaments have been divided into two zones — Shillong and Tura — with the finals to be held in Tura and Shillong respectively.

While the senior tournament of the two-day zonal matches have already commenced on Monday and will continue till December 6, the under-19 tournament will be held from May 8 to 27.

The dates for the finals of both the tournaments will be notified later, Bhattacharjee said.