Pallekelle Stadium - a gift to cricketing public

By Hafiz MARIKAR

WORLD CUP CRICKET:The first ICC World Cup cricket competition was played in England, in the year 1975. It marked the debut of the premier limited over tournament. It was called the Prudential Cup. It was named as the premier tournament for men.

The ICC World Cup counted amongst the premier tournaments in the one-day cricket, Prudential name came in since it was sponsored by the Prudential Assurance Company. And it was the first edition of the IDD; it stretched from June 7th to June 21st, with eight countries competing for the trophy. The teams included all the six Test playing nations " Australia, England, Pakistan, India and West Indies, along with Sri Lanka and a composite team from East Africa.

The format of the first World Cup comprised preliminary matches, which were played in two groups, each of them with four teams. Each of the teams played with the other and the top two teams from each group proceeded to the knockout round of semifinal. The winning teams then played against each other in the final. Each of the matches comprised 60 overs per team, with six balls in one over. The players wore traditional white and played with red ball. In this tournament, all matches were played during the day time.

The matches of the first World Cup were played at the Lord's Cricket Ground, Oval, Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Trent Bridge and Headingly Stadium. The final match was played by Australia and West Indies, in which the latter emerged as the winner.

In that series, there was no man of series in the tournament. It saw the maximum runs being taken by Glenn Turner 333 and the most number of wickets claimed by Gary Gilmour 11.

The statistics, administrator ICC, format one day, tournament formats Round Robin and Knockout, host England, Champions West Indies led by Clive Lloyd. Eight teams participated, with 15 matches, attendance 158,000, 10,533 per game, most runs came off the bat of New Zealand's Glen Turner (333), highest number of wickets from Gary Gilmour.

World Cup - first tourney

Results of the competition, opening game was between England and India at Lord's played on 7th June. There England beat India by 202 runs, England 334/4, India 132/3. The second game too was played on the same day between East Africa and New Zealand at Birmingham. New Zealand won by 181 runs, New Zealand 309/5, East Africa 128/8.

The third game of the day was between Pakistan and Australia at Leeds. Australia won by 73 runs, Australia 278 for 7 and Pakistan 205. On the same day the fourth match was played at Manchester, Sri Lanka vs. West Indies at Manchester. West Indies won by 9 wickets with 39.2 overs remaining. Sri Lanka 86, West Indies 87/1. The fifth match of the tournament was played at Nottingham on 11th June, between New Zealand and England at Nottingham, which England won by 80 runs, England 266/6, New Zealand 186. The sixth match India vs. East Africa at Leeds on the same day. India won by 10 wickets with 30.1 overs remaining. East Africa 120 India 123 for no loss. On the same day the seventh match between Sri Lanka and Australia was played at Oval, Australia won by 52 runs, Australia 328 for 5, Sri Lanka 276 for 4, the game where Duleep Mendis did well and he was also hit on the forehead off a ball from Jeff Thomson. On this day the eighth match took place in Birmingham between West Indies and Pakistan. West Indies won by one wicket, with 2 balls remaining. Pakistan 266/7, West Indies 267/9.

On 14th the ninth match - England vs. East Africa took place at Birmingham. England won by 196 runs. England 290 for 5 East Africa 94. The tenth on the same day, New Zealand vs. India at Manchester. Match New Zealand won by 4 wickets with 1.1 overs remaining. India 230 New Zealand 233/6. 11th match West Indies vs. Australia at the Oval June 14. West Indies won by 7 wickets with 84 balls remaining. Australia 192 West Indies 195/3. The twelfth match Sri Lanka vs. Pakistan at Nottingham same day - Pakistan won by 192 runs. Pakistan 330/6, Sri Lanka 138.

First semi-final was between England and Australia at Leeds, played on 18th June. Australian won by 4 wickets with 31.2 overs remaining. England 83 and Australia 94/6. Second semi-final-New Zealand vs. West Indies at the Oval 18th June West Indies won by 5 wickets with 19.5 overs remaining. New Zealand 158. West Indies 159/5.

Final Australia vs. West Indies at Lords', West Indies were able to win the final and become the first World Cup champions. They won by 17 runs, West Indies 291/8 and Australia 274.

World Class cricketers in Kandy

It is a known fact that staging of a global event in any part of the world will benefit the country or region where the event is held. The infrastructure and facilities newly built or renovated surely add to improve the environs on one hand and to raise the living standards in terms of offering commercial opportunities for the people who are living around a location where a global event is held. Being the host of a global event naturally brings an opportunity to market the location to a global audience who will get to know the facilities available, nature of people who are living there and of course how keen they are in hospitality and how nice they are to the world.

All this happens only if the event is staged successfully. Those are some of the thoughts that overwhelmed my mind as I was looking at the newly built green filled Pallekelle International Cricket Stadium from the finely done massive press box and seeing the man who worked tirelessly and gathered the strength of individuals in his team to make the country proud. He is Suraj Dandeniya, the tournament Director of World Cup secretariat, Sri Lanka. He is the nephew of great cricket promoter and one time Municipal Commissioner of Kandy D.H. de Silva. In the midst of overseeing his team making sure that everything was in order before the Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe match played last Thursday, which we were able to pocket.

Sri Lanka Cricket acquired Pallekelle Stadium which was then half built and had almost been abandoned. The necessary improvements commenced no sooner than the acquisition. Hill capital is a major tourists attraction and many prefer the regional climate which is conducive for cricket. SLC did not also forget the fact that cricket greats such as Murali and Kumar also came from Kandy and the regional cricketers deserve an improved facility to play cricket, was the first answer former Thomian and SSC leg-spinner Dandeniya gave when asked about the reasons for choosing Pallekelle as a world cup venue. He said that out of all the grounds, this gives the best view and also situated in a ideal place, which suits cricket.

Third largest event

He said, We also wanted to look at the big picture of ICC World Cup the world's third largest event coming to Sri Lanka and never wanted to confine the mega event to capital Colombo only. This is why we started building the two new stadiums in Hambantota and Kandy. It is also an extension of promise of taking cricket to the provinces found in the Mahinda Chinthana policy frame work of his Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa. I must state that President Mahinda Rajapaksa advices and supervisions made this project a reality within a short span of 09 months. His good office helped to bring many organisations together to act fast and expedite the work. Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and the former Sports Minister C.B. Ratnayake both from Kandy encouraged and guided to complete the stadium. No wonder that he influenced us a lot to stage the Kandy matches in the most desirable manner. This facility will be an asset for Kandyans, we will see many mega events taking place here in future further opined Dandeniya.

Pallekelle - 1st floodlit stadium

The first floodlit stadium in Kandy - Pallekelle International Stadium is the legacy of Cricket World Cup 2011 for cricket and public in the Central Province. It can easily accommodate 27,000 spectators and has brand new players' dressing rooms, match officials' rooms, grand and lower stands, grass embankments on either side of the pitch.

What interested me most was the sprawling media block which is four storyed and has separate areas for press box, media center and photographers working area; media dining rooms, sound proof commentary boxes for both TV and Radio, and press conference room.

When asked about the barrage of criticism levelled against him by certain parties Dandeniya replied saying that he only proved himself and now the people will see the truth. I was only bothered about keeping my focus intact. The criticism did only encourage me to prove myself and gave them an answer which would help them to realize why they should come up with baseless arguments. I wanted to complete the project successfully in the national interests. As I see the smooth operations of the Sri Lankan version of the tournament to the liking of ICC, I feel proud for the simple reason that I could lead my team to deliver".

The Pallekelle version for the tournament will be over by 14th Monday with the conclusion of Pakistan vs Zimbabwe game. However, it will open the gates for the cricketers from Kandy to experience an international cricketing atmosphere from there onwards. This is the biggest gift SLC could give to the Central Province is my opinion. Dandeniya finally, said the man who was instrumental in bringing this world class gift to Kandy. A big thank you to you from the cricket-loving public of Kandy.

When I visited the Media Box, I met another product of Kandy - Mahesh Senanayake, the youngest to hold the Media Manager position in a World Cup and every journalist from overseas praised the good work at this venue.

Lakshman Kiriella must be thanked

I would like to thank Lakshman Kiriella, the former Minister and present Member of Parliament for getting up Pallekelle International Cricket Stadium. Lakshman Kiriella who was speaking to me, said that he was happy to see this ground coming up. It was When Lakshman Kiriella was the Minster of Tourism and Sports, he requested the then Chairman of BOI Thilan Wijesinghe who was a fine cricketer to allocate a piece of land at Pallekelle. The first discussion was chaired by him on 19th December 2000 at the Tourism Ministry premises with officials of the BOI and Sri Lanka Cricket regarding the venue at the Pallekelle High-Tech International Training Centre, to make way for a Cricket Stadium and Sports Complex with a 99 year lease agreement.

The Minister had requested the BOI and Sri Lanka Cricket to make Pallekelle an eco-friendly stadium in keeping with the panoramic beauty of the Dumabara Valley. It was Lakshman Kiriella who requested BOI Chairman to release this land for a International Cricket Ground.

During this period, Sri Lanka Cricket was headed by Thilanga Sumatipala, Mohan de Silva was the Secretary, Nimal Perera, B.H. Perera, Administrative Manager Anura Tennakoon, Chief Executive, Duleep Mendis attended the meeting representing the Board of Cricket in Sri Lanka.

Thilan Wijesinghe Chairman BOI, S.B.F de Silva Director Technical Service, E.R. Siriwardene Executive Director Technical Services BOI, L.D. Rickman Executive Regional Development and Special Projects, Dickie Dunuwille Co-ordinating Secretary to the Minister a former well-known umpire, and Premasara Epasinghe, Press Secretary to the Tourism and Sports Minister were also present.