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| Wednesday, 18 August 2004 |
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Lanka ready to host a World Cup says top SLC official by Sa'adi Thawfeeq The successful completion of the six-nation Asia Cup in Sri Lanka has the home country thinking on the lines of hosting a future World Cup cricket tournament. "We have the logistics to push for a World Cup in the future,' said Ravin Wickremaratne, Asia Cup tournament director and tour co-ordinator of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). "Logistically we are strong. We have Kandy, Dambulla, SSC, Galle and R. Premadasa Stadium. Then there is CCC, NCC, Moratuwa and Kurunegala. These venues we can improve with little money if we have to stage a World Cup," he said. Wickremaratne said internal flight systems including choppers and bell airplanes are to introduced very shortly by private parties whose mother company is in India. "The time span of travelling from say Galle to Kandy after a match will be comparatively very small if that gets going," he said. "The only problem that I can see is the hotel accommodation. Even in Colombo you have only 3500 rooms for guests. That is a problem we will have to overcome. The main logistic problem will be the hotel accommodation for spectators. That aspect of it of course is out of Sri Lanka Cricket's hands. We cannot to anything unless the government or the tourism ministry steps in," Wickremaratne said. SLC received kudos from the Asian Cricket Council (ICC) for conducting a successful Asia Cup tournament, which in the words of ACC CEO Ashraful Haq 'was the best ever Asia Cup' he had experienced. "I am 100 percent satisfied with the performance of Sri Lanka Cricket and the public and, how they behaved," Ashraful told Wickremaratne at the felicitation night hosted by SLC to thank those who contributed to the success of the Asia Cup. Ashraful from Bangladesh has been a long-standing figure and has been at all eight Asia Cup competitions since its inception in 1984. Lanka to get US$ 2.5m The eighth Asia Cup generated a profit of US$ 19 million, the biggest purse in its history. Of this figure US$ 10.6 million will be distributed among the six nations that competed in the tournament - Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UAE and Hongkong. The remaining funds the ACC will utilize for the development of cricket in the game's Asian outposts. Each of the four Test-playing nations will receive US$ 2.5 million. "There were very small hiccups. Since this is a major event you can't expect to be one hundred percent perfect. Everybody worked very hard towards achieving one objective - for a completion of a successful Asia Cup," said Wickremaratne. "We know it is a preparation for a World Cup in the near future. To at least bid for a World Cup we must have such an organizing capacity. We have proved it with the 2004 Asia Cup. Overall everybody supported," he said. "Even the spectators from India were very happy with the arrangements. The only problem we faced was the selling of tickets. It was in such a demand that some people couldn't buy them," continued Wickremaratne. "I don't know how to streamline the selling of tickets for future matches. Everywhere in the world it happens. People buy in bulk and sell it at a higher price. We are thinking of giving one or two tickets per person at the venues without selling in advance, but then there will be long queues. We will have to rectify the matter," he said. Wickremaratne admitted that some of the tickets were priced too high and that contributed towards poor spectator attendance at most matches. "Since we expected a lot of Indians to come we decided to increase the price for the India-Pakistan, India-Sri Lanka and Pakistan-Sri Lanka matches. We increased the rates by about 75 percent compared to the tour here by Australia. But we still drew a full house at the final and the stadium was overloaded," said Wickremaratne who also handled the tours here by England and Australia. Rs. 30m gate collection "The understanding between the ACC and SLC was that the gate collection would come to us as an income. That is why we increased the price of tickets expecting a lot of people to come. But it didn't happen that way. Basically I think we topped about Rs. 30 million from gate collections. Our estimation was about Rs. 50 million. But in my experience in realistic figures you get about 40 percent of the estimation," he said. Wickremaratne said that overall the main venues needed to be improved by at least 40 percent. "We need to improve seating capacity to generate a little more income," he said. The shortfalls he sighted were: At R. Premadasa Stadium (capacity 24,050 spectators): "It does not come under SLC because it is managed by the Sugathadasa Stadium Management Committee. A lot of things need to be improved. The outfield is uneven that is why when the rain comes it gets filled with water. The level of the ground is lower than the outside. "Even the terraces and the chairs need repairing." At SSC (capacity 18,500): "You have very limited number of spectator galleries but since of late HSBC and Caltex have put up pavilions. If we can have fully covered terraces it will better security wise even for the spectators." At Dambulla: (capacity 20,050): "The area is too big. You have logistic problems placing security and staff. But the main pavilion is fantastically designed. Only two entrances are there and exit points. You can always divert the crowds. We will have to increase the number of seating capacity on the scoreboard side keeping room for about 5000-8000 for standing spectators. We should not prevent the normal masses of the country from watching matches at a lower rate." |
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