Matara Municipal Council throws in Rs 4.5 M to upgrade Uyanwatta Stadium

by Priyan DE SILVA - Matara Sports Corr.

CRICKET: Matara's cricket set-up will get a new look, after the agreement between Matara Municipal Council and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) terminates in October this year after the Women's T20 World Cup matches are over.

Matara Municipal Council will spend around Rs. 4.5 million and the Sri Lanka Army will provide manpower for a new stadium that is expected to come up.

There will be no fence to separate the football ground and the cricket ground. The old buildings will be demolished and a new building complex will come up that will be admired from one and all.

There will be a car park that can accommodate around 150 vehicles and the entrance to the car park will be from Edmund Samarasekera Mawatha and this road will be widened by another ten feet.

The Uyanwatte Cricket Ground will have 12 centre playing strips and there will be five practice turf strips too - and these are expected to be ready by October.

The Nawaloka Group will innovate the Nawaloka Pavilion and it will be named after Deshamanya H. K. Dharmadasa - the late Chairman of the Nawaloka Group of Companies who gifted the pavilion to the Matara District Cricket Association.

A ceremony was held a week back to commence work on the modernisation program at which Matara District parliamentarian Sanath Jayasuriya was the chief guest.