Not paradise for hosts
Sports Reporter from Kandy
Walking into the venue premises one can find hardly anything extraordinary as it is surrounded with some old-fashioned and half-finished buildings. But once you step through the huge green gates and into the ground of the Asgiriya Stadium, there is tranquillity abound.It is the home ground of Trinity College, one of the most prestigious schools in Sri Lanka, located in the heart of Sri Lanka's hill-city. The Trinitians feel proud of the fact that what is a school venue has developed into a Test venue within only 150 days. Despite the breathtaking natural beauty the stadium has never been considered as a favourite one for the cricketers. Rather it is known as a 'wretched venue' because there have been a number of quite shocking injury instances in this ground. Case in point the infamous collision of Jason Gillespie and Steve Waugh that left both men bloodied and the horrific elbow injury of West Indies great Brain Lara. The venue is also infamous for rain interruptions as clouds hug the surrounding hills almost all the time and that is one of the reasons that the pitch always offers extra bounce to assist the pace bowlers. Even the home side cannot count it as one of their favourites having won only five games and lost nine out of 19 affairs a fact that they will surely be looking to improve on come Wednesday.
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