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| A construction worker clims onto a railing during work at the Sooriyawewa stadium in this file photo |
The West Indies team is to arrive on Friday but probably for the first time in history officials are undecided and players are confused about when and where the matches would actually be played.
SLC had earlier scheduled the first match on January 31 at the Sooriyawewa Stadium in Hambantota and the second and third ODIs at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on February 4 and 6.
However, with construction officials running against time to complete work at Sooriyawewa stadium, officials in Colombo had already completed its construction in media interviews and it has now being transpired that the ground will not be ready to host an international match by January 31.
Desperate officials have now rescheduled the matches and bought six more days for Sooriyawewa by postponing the match to February 6 and scheduled it as the third ODI while the first ODI was shifted to the R. Premadasa Stadium to be held on January 31 along with the second game on February 2.
However an SLC official denied the change was due to the lack of readiness of the stadium and said that it was due to a request from the West Indies team. “They are arriving after a long journey. So they have asked us to give them a little bit of time before travelling the long distance to Hambantota”, he said.
But SLC officials who boasted that the ground were ready for the World Cup had a shock when senior Sri Lanka players including former skipper Mahela Jayawardene confronted them and explained in no uncertain terms about the poor standard of the Premadasa Stadium wicket after they had first hand experience of the wickets at the Inter-Provincial tournament semi finals played on Sunday and Monday.
Players are worried that the poor wickets would drag them down to the level of Canada or Kenya and victory on a strip that like would solely depend on luck rather than ability.
Officials have now decided to get the top layers of the R. Premadasa wickets re-done again. Sources said this unforeseen work on the wicket has made it impossible to meet the changed schedule of the West Indies series.
“We would take a final decision on the Premadasa Stadium after monitoring it at today’s Inter Provincial final. We have already played a lot of cricket on these strips and a lot of World Cup matches also have to be played there. So we would have to think again whether we would play the West Indies matches there”, said an SLC official.
Meanwhile last evening’s reports had indicated that Sooriyawewa would not be ready even by February 6 and officials at a Tour Organising Committee (TOC) meeting last evening had contemplated moving all three matches to the SSC ground in Colombo.
If they are moving all three matches to one venue, it will only be to make things easy for the visiting team according to an SLC official. “We are also thinking of playing all three matches at one venue because the West Indies have informed us that they would be happy if they don’t have to travel much”, he said.
However the Sri Lanka team’s senior members have vehemently objected to the move saying that they must play in Pallekele in Kandy and Sooriyawewa in order to get used to the conditions at those grounds and have agreed to play one match at the SSC.
However, TOC officials have found out that no hotels were available in Kandy to host a match at Pallekele though a hotel in Hambantota had promised rooms only for the two teams.
SLC’s TV partner Ten Sports, would be spending more than half a million US dollars on the production costs alone for the re-scheduled ODI series though they are unlikely to recover it.
A former interim committee chairman of the SLC told the “Daily Mirror” that SLC should have concentrated on the World Cup and facilitated the players to win it rather than spending energy on a low key ODI series that has now become only a burden.
Meanwhile sources said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) inspection team which visited Sri Lanka last week to inspect the progress of work at three designated World Cup venues had passed Premadasa and Pallekele Stadiums but have issued instructions to increase the work force and expedite work at Sooriywewa without giving it the nod.
Sri Lanka are now scheduled to hand over the venues of Pallekele, Premadasa and Sooriyawewa stadiums on February 2, 4 and 6 respectively.
Courtesy - DM By Channaka de Silva
