For New Zealand who will baptise the venue, it will the third such occasion in Sri Lanka. On their tour here in 1984, New Zealand also baptised the Singhalese Sports Club grounds and the Colombo Cricket Club grounds which became international cricket's 57th and 58th Test venues.
Sri Lanka's inaugural Test venue was the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium which staged the first Test match between Sri Lanka and England in February 1982 and became the 53rd in the world. It was followed by the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy in April 1983 which was the 54th.
The R. Premadasa Stadium (formerly Khettarama Stadium) and the De Soysa Stadium (formerly Tyronne Fernando Stadium) became the 66th and 67th Test venues in 1992.
New Zealand are no strangers to the venue because in their tours to this country in 1983-84 and in 1986-87, they played two 3-day side games leading up to the Test series, both of which ended in draws.
In 1984, John Reid, Jeff Crowe, and Jeremy Coney made half centuries in their total of 245 for 8 declared against the Sri Lanka Board President's XI who were shot out for 105 by spinners John Bracewell (4 for 20) and Stephen Boock (3 for 15). New Zealand made 57 for 2 in the second innings. There was no play on the first day due to rain.
In 1987, Jeff Crowe once again completed another half century and along with Ian Smith who made 54, New Zealand scored 235. The Galle DCA Invitation XI were dismissed for 204 with off-spinner Bracewell taking a career best 8 for 81 off 32.2 overs. In the second innings, Ken Rutherford made a fine century supported by a fifty from Phil Horne and New Zealand declared at 181 for 4 - all four wickets being taken by Jayananda Warnaweera. The local side replied with 75 for 2 with Roshan Mahanama scoring an undefeated 41.
The following are the Test venues in Sri Lanka:
Date Country P W L D
P.Saravanamuttu Stadium 17-2-82 England 6 1 2 3
Asgiriya Stadium 22-4-83 Australia 7 1 4 2
Singhalese Sports Club 16-3-84 New Zealand 11 4 3 4
Colombo Cricket Club 24-3-84 New Zealand 3 1 1 1
R. Premadasa Stadium 28-8-92 Australia 5 1 1 3
De Soysa Stadium 8-9-92 Australia 4 0 0 4
Galle Int. Stadium 3-6-98 New Zealand
Total 36 8 11 17