Pallekelle Stadium best thing for Kandy

S M Jiffrey ABDEEN- Kandy Sports Corr

The construction of the Pallekelle International Cricket Statium - 14 kilometres from the city of Kandy has been a major success for Sri Lanka Cricket as this cricket stadium has attracted big crowds beyond expectations.

Built in the style of Centurian Park in South Africa, this week the stadium was packed to capacity to witness the two twenty20 cricket between Sri Lanka and Australia played under lights.

A large crowd could not gain access to the ground as all tickets were sold out.

According to an official of the organising committee that tickets for Rs two million were sold at the gates for Monday's match. Sri Lanka cricket should rake in a higher revenue than for the World Cup matches played at this venue as there had been a drastic reduction on the complimentary tickets and also the prices of the tickets for the two open areas were increased.

The seating accommodation too was more with the fixing of the fibre mixed chairs from Australia especially in the level 3 area.

Another advantage held by Pallekele is the fact that it is located in the mid country dry zone and dry weather prevails here when it is raining in Kandy.

This was evidenced this week when there were showers in Kandy, it was dry at Pallekele.

This stadium should have seen the light of the day many years ago. Attempts were made to launch the work on this stadium during the days when S. B. Dissanayake and Lakshman Kirielle were sports ministers at different times.

Anyway the work started but came to a standstill midway due to various problems.

The shrub jungle took over the playing area while the half constructed structures looked abandoned.

It was in this state for sometime till the former Chairman of SLC Interim Committee D. Somachandra de Silva took over and during his visit to Pallekele found this to be in a beautiful location and ideally suited for an International ground.

He set the ball rolling with the blessings of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Minister of the sports of the time.

That was in 2009. By the end of 2010, the stadium was in shape and his vision disproved the fears of prophets of doom who raised doubts of the success of so many stadiums being built in the country. Pallekele Cricket Stadium has not only been a roaring success but also has provided the people of Kandy an opportunity to witness international matches and reciprocated by filling the stadium. Gone are the days of horrendous Kandy weather and the Asgiriya Stadium which SLC had to dump large sums to bring it to a fit state to play International Cricket matches.

This they had to do before every match. Asgiriya being a school ground could accommodate only a small crowd and a very large number of spectators would have been left out.

Pallekelle could accommodate 35,000 spectators and has all the facilities. Further a match could be staged at a very short notice as some of the centre wickets are reserved for international matches.

Sri Lanka cricket's national curator of pitches Anuruddha Polonnowita provided two fine wickets for the twenty20 matches and has indicated that another good wicket will be prepared for the limited over match to play on Wednesday.

Finally a word of thanks for the present Chairman of SLC Upali Dharmadasa for all the good work he has done during his short period of stewardship and the cricket fans in Kandy are grateful to him.