Published: Aug 30, 2015, 01:27 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 30, 2015, 01:27 PM (IST)
Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) makeshift committee is thinking to start their Test series against West Indies in Colombo instead of Galle. The honour of habitual venue for tour opener in Sri Lanka has usually been given to Galle since the cost is considerably reduced playing at this venue. West Indies had last toured Sri Lanka four years back. Now West Indies are scheduled to play in Sri Lanka in October’ 2015. Since SLC did not earn much during its tour to West Indies they are forced to change the venue when West Indies tour them a month later. The interim committee prefers to play the Tests at the P Sara Oval and the SSC or R Premadasa Stadium to cut costs. READ: Denesh Ramdin cautions West Indies ahead of the tour of Sri Lanka
SLC Vice-President Kushil Gunasekera said in a conversation with cricinfo, “In terms of TV broadcasting rights, we will receive [Sri Lankan] Rs 45 million for the West Indies tour, whereas for the tour by Pakistan we received Rs 55 million and the tour by India Rs 300 million. We have to pay the municipality Rs 125,000 per day in addition to other overhead costs. We’ll need to seriously consider the cost factor especially for this tour.” The final decision to replace the venue or not will be taken by the committee on August 31 after getting suggestions from the captain, vice-captain, senior players and Sri Lanka Cricket officials.
