With the Indian ocean visible on two sides of the ground and the famous clocktower of the 16th-century Dutch fort towering above, Galle's international stadium was one of the most scenic venues in the world, until it was devastated - along with the entire Southern coast of Sri Lanka - by the terrible tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004. For a time, the future of the venue was in some doubt - especially given the political schisms that had formed at boardroom level in Sri Lanka's cricket administration - but thanks to international support from such luminaries as Ian Botham and Shane Warne, who had taken his 500th Test wicket on the ground earlier that year, a pledge was made to rebuild the ground from scratch and that work was completed in time for the visit by England in 2008. Until the disaster, Galle had been something of a Sri Lankan stronghold, with six wins and two defeats in 11 matches, the majority of these engineered by Muttiah Muralitharan, who had taken 87 wickets in those games.
Andrew Miller