Pallekele International Cricket Stadium is an international cricket stadium in Pallekele, Kandy. It has been an international cricket venue since 2009 and is located in Pallekele. Sri Lanka Cricket owns and operates the stadium, which is home to the Kandurata cricket team. This stadium is equipped with floodlights. The first One Day International here occurred on 27th January 1982. 

History

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium is the most recent cricket stadium in Sri Lanka, and the first cricket stadium in Kandy. It opened on 27 November 2009. It is about a half-hour drive from Kandy to the Pallekele stadium, which is owned by Sri Lanka Cricket. Pallekele will replace Asgiriya Stadium, which has hosted international matches from 1983 to 2007, as the international venue of choice around Kandy. According to the design of SuperSport Park in Centurion, South Africa, the stadium was built by the State Engineering Corporation of Sri Lanka.

Location

A half-hour drive east of Kandy, the stadium is on the Kandy-Mahiyangane-Padiyatalawa Highway, Pallekele, Sri Lanka.

Seating Capacity

Though being a new stadium this venue has the capacity to accommodate 35000 spectators.

Pitch Details

The high temperature in Pallekele is 31 degrees. It drops to 22 degrees in the evening, and it becomes partly cloudy. There could be as much precipitation as 90 per cent, which means there might be some dew in the games. The team that bats first wins 12 matches and the team that chases wins seven matches at this venue so far. First innings scores average 170, reducing to 150-155 batting second.

Interesting Facts

• The highest partnership for the first wicket in a Cricket World Cup match is 282 runs between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga on 26 March 2011 which came on this ground.

  

• Suranga Lakmal took a wicket off Chris Gayle, who was playing for West Indies, with his first ball in the first Test at a new venue, joining Kapil Dev of India and Pakistan's Imran Khan.

  

• Shaun Marsh and Mike Hussey added 258 runs for the 4th wicket which was the highest fourth wicket partnership in Sri Lanka vs Australia test matches.

  

• As the second Sri Lankan to score centuries in all formats, Tillakaratne Dilshan scored a century in a T20I against Australia. He became the first cricketer to score centuries in all formats as a captain in T20Is, and scored the highest individual innings by a Sri Lankan in T20Is.

  

• In 2016, Kusal Mendis scored 176 against Australia which was the highest individual Test score at this venue.

  

• The combination of Steve O'Keefe, Peter Nevill and Josh Hazlewood (Aus) faced 25.4 consecutive overs without scoring a run while attempting to bat time for a draw on the fifth day.

  

• Lakshan Sandakan's 7/107 bowling figures on Test debut are the best by a left-arm wrist-spinner

  

• There have been 3 Twenty20 International centuries at Pallekele, the most at any venue - Dilshan (104), McCullum (123) and Maxwell (145).

  

• In the match between Australia and Sri Lanka on 7 September 2016, Australia scored 263/3, the highest Twenty20 International total ever which was previously held by Sri Lanka (260/6).

  

• The first whitewash of Sri Lanka was achieved by India on 14 August 2017, when they defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 171 runs.

  

• A four-in-four performance by Lasith Malinga against New Zealand on 6 September 2019 became his second four-in-four in international cricket. It was also his 100th wicket in T20Is in this match, making him the first cricketer to take 100 wickets in all three formats.