Surrey provide hope

Paul Sheldon

Surrey have unveiled their cricket village ground in Magonna, Sri Lanka, a project undertaken in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon declared the pavilion open at the venue, around one-and-a-half hours south of the capital Colombo.

The Oval Cricket Relief Trust has provided £1million of funding for five projects around the island, including the village, which has been a joint production between the county and the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.

The village, which comprises 45 homes for coast dwellers who lost their houses in the December 2004 disaster, was officially launched in February this year.

The ground is the centrepiece of the community project in the south-west of the island and should be ready for its first match within a couple of months.

"Cricket is a massive part of life in Sri Lanka and we are committed to working with the national cricket board here and others around the world to help it benefit local communities," said Sheldon.

A large proportion of the funding for the venture was raised in a Twenty20 contest between an Asian XI and a Rest of the World team at the Brit Oval in June 2005.