Coimbatore: The Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Sciences (SRCAS) and the Coimbatore District Cricket Association is looking to host TNPL 4 here in the city, since the ground with its top class infrastructure is nearing its final stages of completion.
Coimbatore: The Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Sciences (SRCAS) and the Coimbatore District Cricket Association is looking to host TNPL 4 here in the city, since the ground with its top class infrastructure is nearing its final stages of completion.
With TNPL 4 just four months away, the work at SRCAS has been on at a brisk pace in anticipation of hosting the event. The huge 73-mts ground will feature a separate pavilion for home and away team players, and have rooms for umpires, third umpires, match referees, officials of the anti-corruption unit and many more.
A G Gurusamy, Senior Coach at Sri Ramakrishna Cricket Academy who has been tending the SNR College grounds for a very long time says that the ground at SRCAS is almost ready and will be inaugurated in a month, which will see the fulfillment of a long-time dream of Coimbatore cricketers.
Officials hope that the wickets will be ready in a month since only two more layers of clay have to be laid out and levelling of the the outfield has to be done. "This will not take much as time as we speeded up the work here," says Vadivelu, the Physical Education Director of SRCAS.
Once the grounds are ready, the CDCA plans to make the best use of the gounds on a regular basis. Many board level matches (inter state matches) will be held, besides coaching and other training programs. Ideas are afloat to market the same properly which augurs good news for the sport and its fans.
"Besides board level matches, our CDCA league matches will also be held at this ground. As this ground is promoted by the TNCA at an estimated cost of 3 crores, the preferences will be given to the TNCA matches," says S Gowthaman, Secretary of the CDCA. He also added that CDCA's part in preparation of the ground is almost done and TNCA will erect floodlights, gallery, press box and practice areas for the players. A temporary gallery will be set up by the TNCA for the spectators.
One of the cricketers at SRCAS opined that the turf ground in Coimbatore is a big dream come true for Coimbatore cricketers. "Though the city had produced a lot of quality cricketers, it lacked a proper turf ground for players. We believe that this turf ground will be a great platform for Coimbatore cricketers to improve their cricketing standards," he added.
With city league matches and state level matches being played on turf grounds in other districts, the players from Coimbatore found it difficult to survive initially since they lacked turf match experiences. The SRCAS ground is expected to be the right step toward helping local cricketers gain that much needed turf experience to aim for lofty heights in the arena of cricket.