Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

is a popular sport in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The country has eight grounds that have been used to host

international cricket International cricket matches are played between teams representing their nations, normally organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The main forms are Test matches, One-Day matches and Twenty20 matches. Most games are played ...

matches, and seven of them have hosted

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

. However, the

Colombo Cricket Club Ground Colombo Cricket Club Ground (CCCG; si, කොළඹ ක්‍රිකට් සමාජ ක්‍රීඩාංගනය, ta, கொலோம்போ கிரிக்கெட் கிளப் கிரௌண்ட்) is a multi-purpo ...

and the

Tyronne Fernando Stadium De Soysa Park Stadium (formerly known as Tyronne Fernando Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. It is currently used mostly for cricket matches. The stadium holds 15,000 people and hosted its first Test match in 1992. The gr ...

are no longer used for matches at international level, although they are still used for domestic matches and warm-up matches for visiting teams. The Galle International Stadium was destroyed in the

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

, but was rebuilt and hosted international matches again in 2007. The Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium held its maiden

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

in 2001, but was unable to host another until 2003 due to a legal problem. The Hambantota and Pallekele cricket grounds were both newly constructed for

2011 Cricket World Cup The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus ...

, which Sri Lanka jointly hosted with India and Bangladesh. The

R. Premadasa Stadium The R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium (RPS) ( si, ආර්. ප්‍රේමදාස ක්‍රීඩාංගනය, ta, ஆர். பிரேமதாச அரங்கம்; also known as Khettarama Stadium, Ranasinghe Prem ...

has also hosted world cup matches. The R. Premadasa Stadium was also one of the three grounds in Sri Lanka that hosted matches for the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 after the Wills Navy Cut brand produced by tournament sponsor ITC, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was the second World Cu ...

. The other two were the Asgiriya Stadium and the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. The R. Premadasa Stadium was the venue for the match in 1997 where Sri Lanka scored a record 952 runs for 6 wickets against India. Sri Lankan cricketer Mahela Jayawardene has scored a total of 2467 Test runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, the most runs scored by a batsman in one ground. It is also the venue where he scored 374 runs, the highest score by a Sri Lankan batsman. The venue where the most Test wickets have been taken by a single bowler is also the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, where 166 have been taken by

Muttiah Muralitharan Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan ( si, මුත්තයියා මුරලිදරන්, ta, முத்தையா முரளிதரன், also spelt Muralidaran; born 1972) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, former professional c ...

. The Asgiriya Stadium ranks second with 117 wickets, and is followed by the Galle International Stadium with 103 wickets. Both these records are also held by Muralitharan.

Sanath Jayasuriya Deshabandu Sanath Teran Jayasuriya ( si, සනත් ජයසූරිය, ta, சனத் ஜெயசூர்யா; born 30 June 1969), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a captain. He is credited for having revolutionized one-day in ...

has scored 2514 ODI runs at the R. Premadasa Stadium, making it the venue which has the highest ODI runs by a single batsman.

Cricket grounds

Key

Notes

References

External links

Grounds in Sri Lanka from Cricinfo
{{Cricket grounds by country Cricket grounds in Sri Lanka

grounds

Cricket grounds Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by strikin ...

Cricket grounds

Key

Notes

See also

References

External links