Following the revelation of Sri Lanka Crickets plans to build the country’s largest cricket stadium, cricketing legends and politicians alike have come criticizing the move.
On Sunday (17) Minister Bandula Gunawardane visited the land allocated in Homagama revealing plans to build 40,000 seat capacity international cricket stadium at a cost of USD 30-40 million.
Just a day later, cricket star and former Captian of the National team, Mahela Jayawardana, took to Twitter to question the need for another international stadium.
“We don’t even play enough international cricket or domestic first class cricket in the existing stadiums we have … Do we need another one?”
Another cricketing veteran and former ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama too weighed in on the matter asserting it was more important to develop the sport in the island first.
“What we can do is to call for a good program to develop cricket in Sri Lanka without wasting fundings at this juncture. Many who are directly and indirectly involved in the sport are currently facing a lot of hardship. It is important to look after them,” he said speaking to the media noting that loans for the Hambantota Cricket stadium should be repaid before more were procured.
Former UPFA parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa also tweeted in support of the cricketers criticisms of the project today.
“Infrastructure development is vital for any sport but this shouldn’t have been a priority at a time like this. Mahela Jayawardena has a valid point & should be given serious thought. The authorities must always involve all stakeholders & get their opinion before taking the final decision.” he said.
His sibling Navy Officer Yoshitha Rajapaksa too urged the SLC to focus on identifying homegrown talent.
“Sri Lanka Cricket is our pride and joy. But considering the present health crisis we are in which has left the globe shattered, I personally feel large infrastructure projects such as constructing a new cricket ground is not the need of the hour
“While these projects can be looked into later, right now if there are sufficient funds, SLC should look into developing the sport further by launching projects in areas that lack infrastructure that will enable to hunt for more talent. Adhoc decisions should not be made.” Yoshitha Rajapaksa tweeted.
Earlier today Mahela Jayawardena, had also replied to the explanation provided by Sri Lanka Cricket on why do they need another Cricket stadium.
“Having looked at the SLC explanation let me give my none political opinion.
1 . We have hosted a T20 world cup and co-hosted 50 over world cup with the existing venues.
2. First bid for the World Cup and if you get it then with the financial assistance from the ICC and you construct infrastructure
3 . You don’t build a stadium for 40 million USD hoping to get a World Cup in 10-15 years time.” Mahela Jayawardena said.
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