Central Province to get cricket campus: Shammi Silva

Cricket campus 

Text and Pix by Shamseer Jaleel

Central Province (CP) cricket playing schools will be in luck’s way when they get a fully-equipped cricket campus with 10 turf wickets, two matting wickets and equal number of astro turfs in the near future. This project which will get underway in the near future will be ready for use by May 2021. This will be the first campus in the country with such facilities including a gymnasium.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) President Shammi Silva told Daily FT during his recent visit to the Central Hills: “According to our new Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapaksa he wants to develop and support all schools in the country to play the sport and equal opportunity to be given to all. At SLC we are committed towards this. We have already supported Trinity College Ground at Asgiriya Stadium. This was a test venue and the first test being played here in 1984. Later it was neglected.

“We hope to bring back to its golden days in the near future and we want to explore the possibility of offering a three-day tour match in the future once the ground is in good condition for the matches against the visiting teams to Sri Lanka. We provided a sprinkler system for them last year. St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota will get the sprinkler system, side wickets plus the score board from Sri Lanka Cricket. We also supported St. Sylvester’s College with turf wickets and other facilities plus the cricket equipment. Recently Vidyartha College too received cricket goods and support for their grounds.”

Speaking further Shammi said: “Central Province schools will be benefited through the cricket campus program. We have already got the land for this purpose. We have got three acres near Katugastota, Lady Mccallum (MJ1) Drive. There will be 10 side wickets, two matting and astro turfs each. We will have a gym and a swimming pool. This will be one of the biggest in Asia.

“All school children will benefit from this project from the Central Hills. Especially during the rainy season, boys can do their training without any issues. This will be a major plus point for them and at a given time five teams can use these facilities. We are hoping to give priority for ‘A’ division school teams. We will be supporting other schools around the country in the near future.”