Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena questioned the need for country's government to build the nation's largest international cricket stadium in Homagama as is it is planning to do.
Jayawardena pointed out the need to instead get better the existing facilities and use them more frequently for international and domestic fixtures.
In collaboration with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the central government on Sunday (May 17) announced its plans to construct the largest cricket ground, spread over 26 acres of land, with a seating capacity of about 60,000 people.
"We don’t even play enough international cricket or domestic first-class cricket in the existing stadiums we have ... Do we need another one?" wrote Jayawardena on Twitter, whose vision for Sri Lanka's cricketing scene is very different.
Jayawardena, as well as his former teammate, Kumar Sangakkara, have been quite vocal regarding the need for authorities to resurrect the whole structure at the domestic first-class level in order to arrest the declining fortunes of the national side.
However, their concerns have long been disregarded by the administrative regime.
SLC president Shammi Silva and Information Communications Technology, Higher Education, Technology and Innovation Minister Bandula Gunawardena led a delegation that visited the site where the big stadium is being planned.
The stadium will have floodlight facilities to ensure D/N matches can be hosted. The venue is expected to take around three years in construction.
"We think this will cost us around USD 30 to 40 million," said Silva in a report published on newswire.lk.
Kandy, Galle, Colombo, Hambantota, Dambulla, Pallekele and Moratuwa currently play host to Sri Lanka's international fixtures.
