R. Premadasa Stadium

R.Premadasa Stadium

Ground information
Location	Maligawatta, Colombo
Coordinates	6°56′22.8″N 79°52′19.3″E
Establishment	1986
Capacity	14,000 35,000 (current)
Owner	Sri Lanka Cricket
Operator	Sri Lanka Cricket
Tenants	Sri Lanka Cricket
End names
Khettarama End Scoreboard End
International information
First Test	28 August 1992: Sri Lanka v Australia
Last Test	12 September 2005: Sri Lanka v Bangladesh
First ODI	9 March 1986: Sri Lanka v Pakistan
Last ODI	22 August 2011: Sri Lanka v Australia
First T20I	10 February 2009: Sri Lanka v India
Last T20I	4 September 2009: Sri Lanka v New Zealand
As of 6 August 2011 Source: Cricinfo

R. Premadasa Stadium (Tamil: ஆர். பிரேமதாசா சட்டியும்; also known as Khettarama Stadium,Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium or simply as the Premadasa Stadium) is a cricket stadium situated on Khettarama Road, Maligawatta, Colombo, Sri Lanka. The stadium was, prior to June 1994, known as the Khettarama Cricket Stadium and is today one of the main venues in which the Sri Lankan cricket team play, having hosted more than 100 one day international matches.

History

Early history

The stadium is the brainchild of the late Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who championed the development of this 35,000-seater concrete bowl, the biggest stadium in Sri Lanka. Opened on February 2, 1986 with a match between a Sri Lanka 'B' side and an England 'B' team, the stadium was built on swampland previously used by monks ferrying across to the Khettarama temple adjacent to the stadium.

Ground history

The inaugural One Day International was played on April 5, 1986 between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. On August 28, 1992 it hosted its inaugural Test match between Sri Lanka and Australia. The venue is best remembered for holding the world record for the highest Test total - 952/6 declared by Sri Lanka against India in 1997/1998 in which former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya scored 340 and Roshan Mahanama 225, the pair sharing a partnership 576 for the second wicket, which was then the highest for any wicket in a Test Match. Since that record-breaking match, it has hosted just one Test against New Zealand. Invariably flat, the pitches are slow in pace and low in bounce.

A new training center has been developed behind the stadium with 16 practice pitches and dormitories for the Sony Max Cricket Academy which started in 2003.

Renovation

The Premadasa Stadium underwent a reconstruction project in preparation for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The Stadium has been undergoing large-scale renovations since 2009. The Stadium has had its seating capacity increase from 14,000 to 35,000, the media-box accommodating 200 journalists, and other various upgrades. The renovations have cost Sri Lanka Cricket eight million dollars. In July 2010, a report filed by the ICC pitch consultant, Andy Atkinson raised concerns over the condition of the outfield and the pitch claiming he was worried at the slow pace of progress. Although none of the buildings at the stadium were near completion, the 2nd Test of the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka in 2010, was held at the venue between 23–27 November. Sri Lanka Cricket defended choosing the stadium saying that the decision to stage a game was to allow cricketers to acclimatize themselves to the ground ahead of the World Cup games. The Test match was staged using temporary seating for spectators in a corner of the stadium as only players' pavilions had permanent arrangements. Since the press box was not completed reporters and commentators facing technical difficulties used a makeshift arrangement.

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  Renovated Pavilion B

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The main 4 public stands were refurbished along with the Player dressing room area and the corporate boxes.A VIP car park is situated in the Northern end of the ground.

Stadium Plan

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Pavillions A and B are fully equipped with seating in two tiers,lower and higher.several Corporate boxes .are also built in these two stands. Pavillions C and D are built between the scoreboard in the stadium with two tiered seating system.The lower tiers have concrete paving allocated for floor seating and the upper tier includes fully standard seating blocks.The grand stand and top level block above the player pavillions have enhanced quality seating.

After Renovation

The R Premadasa Stadium hosted seven successful world cup matches including a quarter-final and a semi-final. On 10 May 2011 Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga confirmed that first edition of 2011 Sri Lankan T20 Premier League's matches will play at R Premadasa Stadium. The tournament was later postponed till 2012 due to financial complications and internal regime change at Sri Lanka Cricket.

On 21 September 2011, it was announced that R. Premadasa stadium will host fifteen 2012 ICC World Twenty20 matches, including semi-finals and the final.

Since the renovation work has been completed, the Premadasa Stadium's 35,000 capacity creates an intimidating atmosphere for visiting teams.

Ground figures

Test cricket

• The highest Test total at the R Premadasa Stadium is 952/6 declared by Sri Lanka against India in 1997.
• The lowest Test total is 86 by Bangladesh against Sri Lanka in 2005.
• Sanath Jayasuriya scored 340 against India in 1997. This remains the highest score at R Premadasa stadium.
• The 36 wickets captured by Muttiah Muralitharan remains the most number of wickets at the R Premadasa stadium.
• The best bowling figures in an innings is 6/18 by Muttiah Muralitharan against Bangladesh in the 2005/06 season.
• Muttiah Muralitharan's 9/60 remains the best bowling figures in a match.

One Day Internationals

• The highest ODI total is 363/5 by India against Sri Lanka on February 3, 2009.
• Sanath Jayasuriya has scored 2514 runs and is the highest by a single player at the Premadasa stadium. Marvan Atapattu, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Sachin Tendulkar has scored more than 1000 runs.
• Muttiah Muralitharan with 69 scalps has captured the most number of wickets at the Premadasa stadium.
• The highest individual score at R Premadasa stadium is 150 by Gautam Gambhir against Sri Lanka in the 2008-2009 season.
• R Premedasa stadium became the first in Sri Lanka and fourth in the world to reach 100 ODIs hosted stadium.
• Lsith Malinga has taken two ODI hat-tricks at this stadium.The first came against Kenya in the 2011 World Cup and the second versus Australia on 22nd August,2011

Twenty20 Internationals

• First match played on 10 February 2009 in involving Sri Lanka and India.
• Highest team total at the R Premadasa Stadium is 174/4 by India against Sri Lanka

World Cup Cricket

In 1996 and 2011 ICC cricket world cups R.Premadasa stadium hosted 9 matches including a quarter-final match and a semi-final match. It has hosted the highest number of cricket world cup matches in Sri Lanka.

1996 Cricket World Cup

Main article: 1996 Cricket World Cup

17 February 1996 scorecard	Sri Lanka	v	Australia	Sri Lanka won on a forfeit R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Mahboob Shah and Cyril Mitchley
Australia forfeited the match due to safety concerns, and were in Bombay at the time of the match.

26 February 1996 scorecard	Sri Lanka	v	West Indies	Sri Lanka won on forfeit R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Mahboob Shah and V.K. Ramaswamy
West Indies forfeited the match due to safety concerns.

2011 Cricket World Cup

Main article: 2011 Cricket World Cup

Group matches

26 February 2011 (D/N) Scorecard	Pakistan 277/7 (50 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 266/9 (50 overs)	Pakistan won by 11 runs. R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Ian Gould and Daryl Harper Player of the match: Shahid Afridi (Pak)
	Misbah-ul-Haq 83* (91) Rangana Herath 2/46 (10 overs)		Chamara Silva 57 (78) Shahid Afridi 4/34 (10 overs)
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.

1 March 2011 (D/N) Scorecard	Kenya 142 (43.4 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 146/1 (18.4 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets (with 188 balls remaining) R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Tony Hill and Shavir Tarapore Player of the match: Lasith Malinga (Sri)
	Collins Obuya 52 (100) Lasith Malinga 6/38 (7.4 overs)		Upul Tharanga 67 (59) Elijah Otieno 1/26 (4 overs)
Kenya won the toss and elected to bat first. Lasith Malinga took his second ODI Hat-Trick.

3 March 2011 (D/N) Scorecard	Pakistan 184 (43 overs)	v	Canada 138 (42.5 overs)	Pakistan won by 46 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Daryl Harper and Nigel Llong Player of the match: Shahid Afridi (Pak)
	Umar Akmal 48 (68) Harvir Baidwan 3/35 (8 overs)		Jimmy Hansra 43 (75) Shahid Afridi 5/23 (10 overs)
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.

5 March 2011 (D/N) Scorecard	Sri Lanka 146/3 (32.5 overs)	v	Australia	Match abandoned due to rain. R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Ian Gould and Tony Hill Player of the match: DNA
	Kumar Sangakkara 73* (102) Shaun Tait 1/23 (5 overs)
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. Due to rain match abandoned therefore Sri Lanka and Australia got 1 point each.

19 March 2011 (D/N) Scorecard	Australia 176 (46.4 overs)	v	Pakistan 178/6 (41 overs)	Pakistan won by 4 wickets (with 54 balls remaining) R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Marais Erasmus and Tony Hill Player of the match: Umar Akmal (Pak)
	Brad Haddin 42 (80) Umar Gul 3/30 (7.4 overs)		Asad Shafiq 46 (81) Bret Lee 4/28 (8 overs)
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first.

Quarter-finals

26 March 2011 (D/N) Scorecard	England 229/6 (50 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 231/0 (39.3 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets (with 63 balls remaining) R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Simon Taufel and Billy Doctrove Player of the match: Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri)
	Jonathan Trott 86 (115) Muttiah Muralitharan 2/54 (9 overs)		Tillakaratne Dilshan 108* (115) Luke Wright 0/17 (4 overs)
England won the toss and elected to bat first. For the first time England lost a world cup match by 10 wickets.

Semi-finals

29 March 2011 (D/N) Scorecard	New Zealand 217 (48.5 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 220/5 (47.5 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets (with 13 balls remaining) R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Aleem Dar and Steve Davis Player of the match: Kumar Sangakkara (Sri)
	Scott Styris 57 (77) Ajantha Mendis 3/35 (9.5 overs)		Tillakaratne Dilshan 73 (93) Tim Southee 3/57 (10 overs)
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first. This is New Zealand's sixth world cup semi final and Sri Lanka's fourth time.

ICC Champions Trophy Cricket

The 2002 ICC Champions Trophy was held in Sri Lanka. Nine matches played in R.Premadasa stadium including semi-finals and the final. Other matches played in SSC.

2002 ICC Champions Trophy

Main article: 2002 ICC Champions Trophy

Group matches

12 September 2002 (D/N) Scorecard	Pakistan 200 (49.4 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 201/2 (36.1 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Steve Bucknor and Daryl Harper Player of the match: Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri)
	Saeed Anwar 52 (82) Muttiah Muralitharan 3/29 (10 overs)		Sanath Jayasuriya 102* (120) Wasim Akram 1/42 (8 overs)
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.

14 September 2002 (D/N) Scorecard	India 288/6 (50 overs)	v	Zimbabwe 274/8 (50 overs)	India won by 14 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Asoka de Silva and Rudi Koertzen Player of the match: Mohammad Kaif (Pak)
	Mohammad Kaif 111 (112) Douglas Hondo 4/62 (9 overs)		Andy Flower 145 (164) Zaheer Khan 4/45 (10 overs)
India won the toss and elected to bat first.

16 September 2002 (D/N) Scorecard	Sri Lanka 292/6 (50 overs)	v	Netherlands 86 (29.3 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 206 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Dave Orchard and David Shepherd Player of the match: Marvan Atapattu (Sri)
	Marvan Atapattu 101 (118) Adeel Raja 2/50 (10 overs)		Tim de Leede 31 (43) Muttiah Muralitharan 4/15 (5.3 overs)
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first.

18 September 2002 (D/N) Scorecard	England 298/8 (50 overs)	v	Zimbabwe 190/9 (48 overs)	England won by 108 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzen Player of the match: Marcus Trescothick (Eng)
	Marcus Trescothick 119 (102) Douglas Hondo 4/45 (6 overs)		Heath Streak 50* (58) Ronnie Irani 4/37 (10 overs)
England won the toss and elected to bat first. Zimbabwe were fined 2 overs for a slow over rate

20 September 2002 (D/N) Scorecard	South Africa 316/5 (50 overs)	v	Kenya 140 (46.5 overs)	South Africa won by 176 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Daryl Harper and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan Player of the match: Herschelle Gibbs (RSA)
	Herschelle Gibbs 116 (126) Collins Obuya 2/77 (10 overs)		Steve Tikolo 69 (97) Dale Benkenstein 3/5 (3.5 overs)
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first.

22 September 2002 (D/N) Scorecard	England 269/7 (50 overs)	v	India 271/2 (39.3 overs)	India won by 8 wickets R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Steve Bucknor and Russell Tiffin Player of the match: Virender Sehwag (Ind)
	Ian Blackwell 82 (68) Ashish Nehra 2/49 (10 overs)		Virender Sehwag 126 (124) Ian Blackwell 1/46 (8 overs)
England won the toss and elected to bat first.

Semi-finals

25 September 2002 (D/N) Scorecard	India 261/9 (50 overs)	v	South Africa 251/6 (50 overs)	India won by 10 runs R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: David Shepherd and Russell Tiffin Player of the match: Virender Sehwag (Ind)
	Yuvraj Singh 62 (72) Shaun Pollock 3/43 (9 overs)		Herschelle Gibbs 116 (119) Virender Sehwag 3/25 (5 overs)
India won the toss and elected to bat first. India advanced to the final.

27 September 2002 (D/N) Scorecard	Australia 162 (48.4 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 163/3 (40 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Umpires: Steve Bucknor and Dave Orchard Player of the match: Aravinda de Silva (Sri)
	Shane Warne 36 (69) Muttiah Muralitharan 3/26 (9.4 overs)		Marvan Atapattu 51 (113) Glenn McGrath 2/41 (10 overs)
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. Sri Lanka advanced to the final.

Final

29 September, 30 September 2002 (D/N) Scorecard	India	v	Sri Lanka	No result. India and Sri Lanka are declared co-champions R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka Player of the match: DNA
Match rained out twice. India and Sri Lanka declared co-champions.

ICC World Twenty20

Sri Lanka will host the 2012 ICC World Twenty20. Fifteen out of twenty seven matches are due to play in R. Premadasa stadium, including semi-finals and the final. Other matches will be played in Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium.

2012 ICC World Twenty20

Main article: 2012 ICC World Twenty20

Group matches

19 September 2012 (D/N)	India	v	Q2	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

19 September 2012 (D/N)	Australia	v	Q1	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

21 September 2012 (D/N)	England	v	Q2	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

22 September 2012 (D/N)	Australia	v	West Indies	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

23 September 2012 (D/N)	England	v	India	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

24 September 2012 (D/N)	West Indies	v	Q1	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Super 8s

28 September 2012 (D/N)	D1	v	C2	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

28 September 2012 (D/N)	B1	v	A2	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

30 September 2012 (D/N)	B1	v	C2	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

30 September 2012 (D/N)	D1	v	A2	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2 October 2012 (D/N)	B1	v	D1	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2 October 2012 (D/N)	A2	v	C2	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Semi-finals

4 October 2012 (D/N)	TBC	v	TBC	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

5 October 2012 (D/N)	TBC	v	TBC	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Final

7 October 2012 (D/N)	TBC	v	TBC	R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Gallery

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  At night, with the lights on (before redevelopment)

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  Pavillion C and D,August 2011

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  Floodlights at the RPS,Colombo

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  Australia took on Sri Lanka in two ODIs,August 2011

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  Premadasa Stadium being fully covered due to rain

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  Ground fully masked by covers,August 2011

See also

• List of Test cricket grounds
• List of international cricket grounds in Sri Lanka

External links

• Cricinfo profile on R. Premadasa Stadium