Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium (Sinhala: රංගිරි දඹුලු ජාත්යන්තර ක්රීඩාංගනය, Tamil: தம்புள்ள சர்வதேச கிரிக்கெட் விளையாட்டு மைதானம்) is a 16,800-seat[1]cricket stadium in Sri Lanka. It is situated in the Central Province, close to Dambulla on a 60-acre (240,000 m2) site leased from the Rangiri Dambulla Temple. it is the first and only International cricket ground in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. The stadium is built overlooking the Dambulla Tank (reservoir) and the Dambulla Rock.
The inaugural One Day International (ODI) match was played between Sri Lanka and England in March 2001.
Floodlights were installed in 2003.
This stadium hosted all the matches of the Asia Cup 2010, due to renovation of other grounds for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
The stadium returned to international cricket in November 2013 after a three-year period due to its highly criticised floodlight system.
The stadium hosted only day matches from 2013 until late 2016.
In 2015, plans were undertaken to replace the outdated 8 floodlight towers with four LED ones.
On 5 February 2024, under the ‘Centre of Excellence’, President Ranil Wickremesinghe opened a facility with a hydrotherapy unit and a state-of-the-art medical centre and also inaugurated the modern LED lighting system of the ground.[2]
The ground
Scoreboard end
Situated in the dry zone, the original rationale behind the project was that it provided Sri Lanka with the potential to host one-day matches throughout the year. Construction was funded by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) and championed by the then BCCSL President, Thilanga Sumathipala. Construction took only 167 days. After construction and the inaugural match it sat idle due to complications with the lease and the contractors. International cricket finally returned in May 2003, the venue staging all seven matches of the tournament because of monsoon rains in the south.
The pitch is bowler friendly. Seamers benefit in the morning because of the high water table and heavy sweating. Spinners benefit in the afternoon when the pitch can crumble.
The 50th ODI at the ground was held on 28 March 2017, between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which was washed out by the rain and ended in no result. The match was also the 200th ODI for Sri Lankan opener Upul Tharanga as well.[6]
