England which played in Sri Lanka's inaugural Test at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo in 1982, is to score another first when they play Sri Lanka in the Second Test of their 2001 tour of Sri Lanka at the brand new Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium from 7th to 11th February 2001. Dambulla, which is 160 kilometres from metropolitan Colombo, is in the eastern periphery of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Dambulla, a bustling city, never sleeps since it is the centre of the vegetable and agricultural produce entreport trade of five provinces of Sri Lanka and is situated almost exactly in the centre of the island. The centre point of Sri Lanka is the Nalanda Gedige, which is only 8 km away from the proposed stadium. It is almost equidistant from Anuradhapura, (North Central Province) Kandy, (Central Province) Kurunegala (North Western Province) and Trincomalee and Batticaloa (Northern and Eastern Provinces). The wholesale vegetable trade is conducted right through the day and night where the exotic and dry zone vegetables are bought, sold and transported throughout the country. Even the banks are open throughout the night to facilitate trade and transactions.

Dambulla is a World Heritage site, famous for its rock cave temple dating back to 85 B.C.. The land on which the Stadium is being built belongs to the Rangiri Dambulla Temple. In ancient Sri Lanka all land belonged to the King and he ceded land to temples and to individuals for services granted. According to the "sannasa" (the deed of gift from the king) all land from where one could hear the drumming in the temple, which is on a massive rock, 200 metres high, was gifted to the temple. This is a few thousand acres. Recently the temple leased 60 acres of land for the Stadium to the Chief Minister of the Central Province with whom the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) is handling the project. The full project will cost approx. Rs. 225 million ($3 million) and will be completed in stages.

Dambulla is 16 kilometres away from historic Sigiriya, the 400-metre high rock palace of King Kasyapa 1 (477-495 AD) which has the world famous frescoes of cloud maidens. Sigiriya is on the threshold of being declared the Eighth Wonder of the world by UNESCO. Dambulla and Sigiriya are rich in culture and are visited by thousands of tourists throughout the year. Because of the development of tourism, several 5 star hotels and a number of smaller hotels have sprung up around these archaeological sites. Another attraction of Dambulla is the Kandalama Tank, which is a large irrigation reservoir for the paddy producing Dry Zone. The catchment area of the tank is a bird sanctuary where 141 varieties of birds have been observed, photographed and recorded. Herds of elephants come to the tank for water. Kandalama is popular internationally for eco tourism.

There is controversy regarding the siting of the stadium. Those against the Dambulla site argue that the population is sparse in this area and spectator participation will be quite low. The argument regarding a sparse population is correct but it is only the permanent population, which is sparse. A large mass of people converges on Dambulla for business daily and it is central and very convenient for people of five provinces. In fact, it is more convenient than Colombo, Galle or Kandy. Furthermore, Dambulla is in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka and the rainfall precipitation has been consistently below 50 inches per year making the site ideal for cricket. With international matches in Colombo, Kandy and Galle being continually interrupted or washed out by rain, the thinking behind Dambulla is excellent. Thilanga Sumathipala, the President of the BCCSL who developed the concept of the stadium and the location, is determined to stage the 2nd Test match against England at Dambulla. Mohan de Silva, the Secretary of BCCSL, stated that "if the Wankade Stadium in Mumbai could be built in 9 months, why cannot we do it in Dambulla since we have the finances and the construction facilities?" The foundation stone was laid a few days ago and construction work followed immediately. The wisdom of locating the stadium at Dambulla is evidenced by an immediate economic boom of sky rocketing land values for about 10 km around the stadium. Investors are buying up land for holiday homes, guesthouses and other infrastructure support services.

The stadium is designed by one of Sri Lanka's leading architects and will seat 50,000 spectators when the entire project is complete.

© BCCSL