Sri Lanka is set to unveil their eighth test venue later this year with Sri Lanka Cricket authorities planning to play one of the two test matches against West Indies at the Sooriyawewa International Cricket Stadium.
Chairman, SLC, D. S. De Silva revealed their plans of taking the international game to one of the most rural areas of the country at a press conference yesterday. This confab was held to divulge the opinion of the ICC ground experts who had come down to inspect the progress of the proposed World Cup venues in Sri Lanka at the SLC headquarters, Colombo. It was a very significant statement since the ICC pitch consultant; Andy Atkins was also present at the press conference.

Atkins tests the Soil at Sooriyawewa

The ICC pitch team includes Professor Eugene Van Vuuren and Diraj Malhotra, and Andy Atkins.

West Indies will be here to play a two match Test series and three One Day Internationals in addition to one or two T20 games, in November/December this year. "We've been working round the clock during the last few months to bring this ground into this level today. Now, the grass has grown well and the center square has been rolled and prepared excellently"

"We believe that some of our provincial matches of the four day 1st class tournament could be played there. Likewise, we will do everything possible to play at least one test match against the West Indies there" said the SLC chairman.

Already there are seven grounds in Sri Lanka that has hosted test cricket. Thus Sooriyawewa will become the eighth ground to host a test match, provided everything goes according to the plans. This is the second visit by the pitch expert to Sooriyawewa within three months after their first visit in early December last year. An unexpected visit though, they expressed satisfaction over the work being done at Sooriyawewa and R. Premadasa Stadiums. However, the team was not worried of the stadium in Pallekale, as cricket is already being played there.

ICC experts explaining matters to the Lankan press (Pic by Sanka Vidanagama)

"We've just got over a year before the tournament actually starts. As long as the progress continues, in the same rate as it's going at now, there shouldn't be a problem getting the grounds ready and tested prior to the world cup" said Andy Atkins. "I spoke to the gentlemen down there yesterday and I think everybody is satisfied and everything is on target"

"At P. Premadasa Stadium, work is bit delayed there. That may require a lot of impact this week. Again, as long as that progress is maintained, as at the present rate, everything will be on time and we should have no problems" he added.

SLC is planning to increase the capacity of R. Premadasa Stadium from 18,000 to 25,000 spectators.
"When we came here in December, Sri Lanka board gave us deadlines for construction. So when we visited the sites yesterday, it's heartening to see that they are on target" said Diraj Malhotra, the ICC coordinator to 2011 CWC.

In the last visit, the pitch expert said that at-least 6 to 8 One Day matches should be played in each of the new venues before a world cup match. Yesterday, he said that Sri Lanka can play even more matches but advised not to play any cricket at Sooriyawewa for at least another two months.

"It's still a very young square. I actually adviced not to play there for a couple of more months. Because we should allow the grass to settle, allow the soil to compact and allow the roots to grow" Andy said.
Andy had brought down a special device, called a soil tester, to check the composition of soil within a foot deep into the surface. Analyzing that, he will be able to understand the amount of moisture, clay and grass root length of the ground.

There are 12 World Cup matches to be played in Sri Lanka, including a quarter final and a semi final. The Tournament starts on 19th April and the final is to be played on 2nd April 2011 in Mumbai.