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Quick two cents on the proposed stadium construction in Homagama.
According to SLC, the board will essentially be granted the 26 acres of land in Homagama, at the taxpayers’ expense.
SLC will then have to build the stadium with their own funds. https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29193445/slc-commits-building-new-stadium-colombo
According to SLC, the board will essentially be granted the 26 acres of land in Homagama, at the taxpayers’ expense.
SLC will then have to build the stadium with their own funds. https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29193445/slc-commits-building-new-stadium-colombo
A primary reason SLC wants this stadium is because it's bidding to host ICC World Cups, "for which it is expected to have at least five international level cricket stadiums in the country" according to the SLC press release.
I can say with some confidence that this is BS.
I can say with some confidence that this is BS.
Nowhere has ICC stated specifically that "five international level cricket stadiums" are required to successfully bid for a world tournament.
SLC has also successfully hosted a T20 World Cup in 2012, and co-hosted an ODI World Cup in 2011, using three venues on both occasions.
SLC has also successfully hosted a T20 World Cup in 2012, and co-hosted an ODI World Cup in 2011, using three venues on both occasions.
In any case, the standard procedure around the world for almost every sport is to first win the bid to host a World Cup (or major event), then either build the infrastructure required to host it, or upgrade the existing infrastructure up to the required standard.
Which brings me to my next point. The existing Khettarama stadium, which is the heartbeat of Sri Lankan cricket because the academy is located there and all the elite squads (men's, women's, A team, age group) all train there, desperately needs upgrades.
Leading players have cried out for this for years. Khettarama doesn't have a swimming pool for players returning from injury to do their low-impact rehab exercises in. Lasith Malinga, who has gone through a range of leg injuries, has spoken out about this.
Khettarama also does not have an indoor nets facility, which is borderline negligent in a city that has frequent rain and monsoon seasons. If players, or even visiting teams, want to use indoor nets, they generally have to trek across town to the Nondescripts Cricket Club.
Just to spell this out, there are wealthy high schools in some parts of the world that have both indoor nets and a swimming pool. And yet, the primary training facility in Sri Lanka, where cricket is overwhelmingly the most popular sport, has neither.
This despite both indoor nets and pool projects having been started way back in 2015 ( https://www.espn.in/cricket/story/_/id/21162903/premadasa-get-indoor-nets-swimming-pool). As soon as the board changed, those projects were canned.
An SLC official said yesterday that council approval for those projects have still not been obtained.
An SLC official said yesterday that council approval for those projects have still not been obtained.
Meanwhile, as @Damith1994 reminded us, SLC had promised an international stadium in Jaffna in 2017. Like with Homagama, board officials visited empty land and made what seem to me like fulsome promises.
Not only has no work been begun on that land, not even a feasibility study has been completed.
Which is a shame, because while Jaffna may not need a flashy stadium, it could do with a high-quality ground to at least host exhibition matches, if not full-blown internationals.
Which is a shame, because while Jaffna may not need a flashy stadium, it could do with a high-quality ground to at least host exhibition matches, if not full-blown internationals.
But having seen the empty promises of SLC in the past, and having looked over the shoddy reasons for why the board says it wants this new Homagama stadium, I'm wondering if the promise of this new stadium has more to do with the election announced for next month.
The minister in attendance at the photo-op in Homagama over the weekend was Bandula Gunawardana. He's contesting from Colombo electorate, to which Homagama obviously belongs. He's a minister in the cabinet, but sports is not his portfolio.
The reason it's important to push back against govt influence at SLC, particularly when it comes to this kind of huge infrastructure, is because we could end up with another ground like Sooriyawewa (Hambantota), which has not only caused financial strain to both Govt and SLC...
...it's also awful from an environmental perspective. That stadium is huge and beautiful. But herds of elephants range in the territory that ground is built on. They break in through the fence when the ground lays empty for months. https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/19806928/hambantota-authorities-ensure-safe-distance-elephants-fans
I'm not a fan of govt involvement in cricket at all, so would rather they all stay out of it altogether. However, that is not the country we live in.
If the likes of @RajapaksaNamal are serious about infrastructure improvements for cricket, there are sensible ways to do that.
If the likes of @RajapaksaNamal are serious about infrastructure improvements for cricket, there are sensible ways to do that.
Request SLC to build that ground in Jaffna. There's immense passion for cricket there - passion that survived the 27-year war: https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/761915/the-lost-boys-of-jaffna
Or at least, make the upgrade of facilities at Khettarama a focus.
Or at least, make the upgrade of facilities at Khettarama a focus.
If SLC wins ICC hosting rights, which I very much hope it does, new stadiums can be considered at that time.
