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Government mess things up at Sooriyawewa
Sri Lanka faces world class disrepute |
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2011-02-16 |
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The Internaional Cricket Council (ICC) specialists who have inspected the pitch at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Sooriyawewa, Hambantota had said it was not suitable to hold the World Cup cricket matches. The ground has so far not been used even for a warm up match yet and the officials have said it was not suitable for any kind of playing as there were termites in the pitch, sources from Sri Lanka Cricket said.
The ground was rejected by the ICC until the 13th and following discussions between Sri Lanka Cricket officials and the ICC officials currently in the country, an official agreement has been reached on receiving the green light to hold matches at the Stadium. |
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The Sri Lanka Cricket officials are hopeful that the ICC may give its approval following the discussion. Therefore, no official statement has been issued on the matter.
Although the first match scheduled to be played at the Stadium, which is a day and night match between Sri Lanka and Canada on the 20th, no warm up matches have been played at the Sooriyawewa Stadium and the Sri Lankan team has not received a chance to even inspect the pitch.
The Sri Lanka cricket team first objected to playing the match at the Stadium, but later agreed to it after considering the Canadian team.
However, the lights that have been used to provide light to the ground has not been subjected to any tests. Since there was a great chance of the Sooriyawewa Stadium being rejected, many Cricket officials and politicians have left for Sooriyawewa and are engaged in great efforts to at least temporarily finish the construction work.
The President and parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa have criticized the Sri Lanka Cricket officials for their failure to complete the Sooriyawewa Stadium on time. The President's effort to open the Stadium last December 18 when he was sworn in for his second term in office also failed.
Nevertheless, a large amount of money has been used for propaganda work.
It is also learnt that Sri Lanka Cricket officials have not yet seen any plans related to the construction of the Sooriyawewa Stadium. The construction work is being carried out by a Chinese firm. Due to the delay in completing the construction work, a large number of personnel from the Sri Lanka army engineering division have also been assigned to work at the Stadium.
In this backdrop, Sri Lanka faces the threat of losing chances of hosting international matches in the country and the mess created in Sooriyawewa would also bring disrepute to the country internationally. Sooriyawewa has been rejected because the authorities have failed to get the knowledge of the experts due to political benefits.
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