By Srian Obeyesekere

Sri Lanka Cricket has mooted a far reaching concept on the initiative of its President, Shammi Silva aimed at boosting outstation cricket by supplying 3 turf wickets each for all 25 districts so as to benefit underprivileged schools and cricket clubs. Accordingly, the construction of turfs at the center of respective playgrounds with two side training turfs will soon be a boon to bettering the lot of outstation cricket which has been given top priority by the SLC President. An added incentive will be equipping these cricket grounds with movable net equipment to further facilitate up to date training for outstation cricketers.

This decentralisation scheme is aimed at upgrading cricket throughout the country by maximising turf wicket resources while eliminating the use of  matting wickets by rural cricketers s so as to raise the latent talent level to an even keel.

This latest concept by SLC is aimed at upgrading outstation cricket so as to facilitate rural cricketers from schools and inter-clubs to further develop their skills and make it to the national grid. This far reaching concept was spelled out by SLC President, Shammi Silva at the recent Ex-co meeting which was unanimously adopted in the greater interest of taking domestic cricket at the grass roots to the next level. A consensus was accordingly reached to make available the proposed facilities free to school cricketers.

Districts without playgrounds will be prioritised while the respective district associations will be tasked with refurbishing all turfs. The construction of center turfs it has been decided to make available 5-strip turfs depending on the available playground facilities.