Cricket larger than life at Dambulla, RPS

BY SA'ADI Thawfeeq

CRICKET in Sri Lanka is about to get bigger. Spectators at the IOC (Indian Oil Company) one-day tri series which kicks off at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium on Saturday will witness something unique and unusual.

They will have the privilege of catching the action live and witnessing every moment of a match that will be played in this seven-match tournament at Dambulla as well as the R. Premadasa Stadium on a giant screen which will be installed at the two venues.

The giant screen (or giant TV as the marketing company 5th Elephant likes it to be called) which is quite popular in other cricket playing nations like Australia and India is a new innovation to hit Sri Lanka cricket.

It is the first time that such a screen is being installed at international matches played in this country.

Imagine a giant screen 24 feet by 18 feet giving you mega video images of instant replays at the ground, and a larger than life representation of the live cricket.

According to M.S. Muralitharan, the managing director of Technology Frontiers Pvt Ltd, Chennai it is bound to become an instant success not only with spectators and players alike but also with sponsors who will be able to get their products advertised at 438 times the size of a normal television screen. He said it will be the largest LED screen available in the whole of Asia.

How popular this sort of screen can become was illustrated by Muralitharan when he said that during the 2003 Cricket World Cup played in South Africa, around 16,000 people gathered around a giant screen put up at Marina Beach on a hot afternoon to catch the action.

Muralitharan said that he was quite encouraged by the responses he has got from Sri Lanka and that he hoped to have these giant screens installed at the South Asia Games when it is hosted by Sri Lanka next year.

Sri Lanka Cricket marketing director Jayantha Kudahetty said that SLC was in the forefront of developing cricket at every level not only to the cricketers but also to the media and spectators as well.

"It's a new viewing experience for everybody. There won't be any need for everyone to crowd around a television set to catch the action because it is there right in front larger than life.

Even the cricketers themselves sometimes pause to look at their own replays," said Kudahetty at a press conference held in connection with this event at the 36th floor of World Trade Centre yesterday.

Kudahetty said this new concept could greatly increase the number of spectators coming for matches because they would not miss a single part of the action.

He said that the International Cricket Council guidelines was being strictly adhered to in televising these matches.

The giant LED screen also provides advertisers and corporate entities an opportunity to expose their brands.