Hon. Upul Kithsiri
Hon. Upul Kithsiri expressed condolences on the death of Jayannanda Chandraveera, noting his contribution to cricket and the restoration of the Galle International Cricket Ground after the tsunami. He highlighted Sri Lanka’s cricket achievements and asked why Sri Lanka Cricket’s resources have not been used to develop facilities in rural districts, citing the lack of an international-standard turf pitch in Ratnapura. He called for steps to expand cricket infrastructure and opportunities for talented players in villages, including areas such as Embilipitiya.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I thank the Hon. Minister. First, I express sorrow at the passing on 16th of this month of Jayannanda Chandraveera, an international cricketer, distinguished bowler, and curator of the Galle International Cricket Ground, who rendered great service, including restoring that ground after the tsunami.
¶ 02 Cricket has won the hearts of our people—young and old. We started Test cricket in 1982 and have played about 327 Tests. We are a country that has won two World Cups. My question is that cricket must reach our villages. In Embilipitiya, students of the President’s College achieved a national victory this time. Despite nearly 50 years of cricket, many talented rural players still lack grounds and opportunities. Why, despite SLC’s ample funds, has there not been investment in grounds in difficult rural districts—e.g., in Ratnapura there isn’t even one international-standard turf pitch? What steps will be taken?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Friday, 24 October 2025 ·No. 22644 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/28736
Cite as: Hon. Upul Kithsiri. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 24 October 2025. No. 22644. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/28736