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Colombo: Persistent heavy rain in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, which has hampered the preparation of pitches, has meant the two warm-up matches scheduled to take place at the venue ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 will be relocated, it was confirmed on Wednesday.
The decision was taken by local and ICC officials following a recommendation by ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson after he inspected the venue on Wednesday.
It means that the matches between Sri Lanka and the Netherlands on Saturday 12 February and Kenya versus the Netherlands on 15 February will be moved elsewhere, with the location for those matches to be announced shortly. This does not affect the three tournament fixtures scheduled to take place at that venue in March.
Tournament Director Prof. Ratnakar Shetty said: "The groundstaff at Pallekele have had to contend with an extremely high volume of rainfall over a number of weeks, far in excess of what is normal for this time of year. This has proved to be a significant handicap in their efforts to produce pitches for the forthcoming warm-up matches."
"The decision to switch the warm-up matches away from Pallekele is common sense and is one that is fully supported by all stakeholders as it will allow the groundstaff the time they need, following those recent heavy rains, to produce excellent pitches for the tournament matches that will take place there."
"At the same time, the switch will also ensure that the teams involved in the warm-up matches get a high level of quality preparation ahead of tournament matches."
Pallekele will host three matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, starting with the clash between New Zealand and Pakistan on 8 March, followed by Sri Lanka's match-up with Zimbabwe on 10 March and concluding with the Pakistan v Zimbabwe fixture on 12 March.
