Galle likely to be ruled out as venue for upcoming West Indies tour

Galle the customary venue for the series opener is unlikely to host West Indies in the upcoming series

Sri Lanka’s interim committee is in plans of starting the upcoming Test series against West Indies at Colombo instead of Galle as the venue for the opener due to cost factors, reported ESPNcricinfo.

Galle is the regular venue for the first Test played in Sri Lanka by a visiting country and Sri Lanka has 14 out 26 win record at the venue. They also won the first Test against India here.

The West Indies tour will not generate big revenues for the SLC and therefore the board is in talks to hold both Tests in Colombo at the P. Sara Oval and SSC Colombo respectively to cut costs.

"In terms of TV broadcasting rights, we will receive [Sri Lankan] Rs 45 million for the West Indies tour, whereas for the tour by Pakistan we received Rs 55 million and the tour by India Rs 300 million," vice-president of the SLC interim committee, Kushil Gunasekera, said.

Even though the SLC owns the Galle cricket ground, it will have to pay taxes to the municipality whenever a match is played here, "We have to pay the municipality Rs 125,000 per day in addition to other overhead costs. We'll need to seriously consider the cost factor especially for this tour," he said.

Gunasekera also said the final decision on the matter of the Test being played at Galle will be taken at the interim committee meeting on August 31 after talking to the officials and team members.