A refurbished press box at Sara Stadium

By Ranjan Anandappa

CRICKET: A fully refurbished and air-conditioned enclosure for the media has been constructed by the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club for the pressmen covering future international cricket matches at the venue.

Formerly known as the Colombo Oval, and now the Sara Stadium, the stadium has a great cricketing legacy from the schools to international matches.

The new structure has come up in a week's time at the expense of Rs. 2.2 million and it was declared opened by T. Nirmalingam last Wednesday amidst a distinguished gathering of media personnel.

From Bradman to Miller, Worrell to Benaud, Sobers to Simpson, Chapell to Lloyd, you name it and it will be a rare occurence if any of the top Test players have missed the opportunity of playing at this venue which was a household name for cricket even prior to Sri Lanka gaining full Test status. Schoolboys considered it a great privilege playing their "big matches" at the then Colombo Oval.

"This is something we were planning to do somewhere in September. But we had to expedite things because we thought the condition of the 'press box' was really unsatisfactory and now it is up to the press to say whether it is good or bad" said Chandra Schafter the President of Tamil Union.

"For the last fifteen years we have been deprived of staging matches by the successive cricket Boards for a variety of reasons. If you don't have matches one cannot survive, we are ready to stage matches and I hope the Board will consider our grounds while arranging future Test matches", the Tamil Union boss added.