Around the Grounds

Before the T20 World Cup kicks off on Tuesday night, we thought we'd take a look at the three venues that the matches will be spread across.

 

Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium

Source: srilankagallery.info

The stadium was built in 2010 for the 2011 Cricket World Cup jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It has a capacity of 34,000 which has been expanded by temporary stands to hold 60,000 people. Despite its small size, (dimensions 100 metres x 100 metres) the ground is already notable for low scoring games. The highest score recorded at the ground in a T20 international is just 132.

R Premadasa Stadium

Source: cricktworldcup2010.com

The Premadasa Stadium is one of the main cricketing venues in Sri Lanka, having hosted over one hundred international matches since its opened in 1986. It is the home of the highest recorded Test match score (952/6dec. Sri Lanka vs India, 1997) and will be the venue for the semi-finals and final of the tournament, as well as 13 other fixtures.

Source: cricbuzz.com

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium

Another stadium built for the 2011 World Cup, Pallekele is also known as the Muttiah Muralitharan Stadium, after the famous spin bowler and native of Kandy, the town where the stadium is located. The pitch has already produced some high scoring games, with teams failing to score less than 149 on only one occasion.