People must say that Sri Lanka treated us the best'

Cricinfo speaks to Suraj Dandeniya, the confident 2011 World Cup tournament director, close on the heels of the visit to Sri Lanka by an ICC delegation

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Suraj Dandeniya's previous association with Sri Lankan cricket had been very limited, with brief stints for St Thomas College, Mt Lavinia in 1975-76, and with SSC in 1977-78. Dandeniya, the nephew of the present interim chairman of Sri Lanka cricket, departed for the US to pursue a career in banking but has now assumed centrestage in executing Sri Lanka's leg of the 2011 World Cup with his role as tournament director. Cricinfo caught up with the reputed businessman, who runs around 15 varied operations, close on the heels of the visit to Sri Lanka by a delegation of ICC officials for a venue inspection tour last week.

	Aravinda de Silva gets ready to face the first ball at the Pallekele Stadium © ESPNcricinfo Ltd Enlarge

How have the preparations of stadiums - Pallakelle, Hambantota and the R Premadasa Stadium - for the 2011 World Cup gone so far?

Somewhere around May we identified the three stadiums. Once they were identified, there were two main sectors of the stadia that had to be worked on. One was the ground, which is most important, then the infrastructure of the stadia. When we started, the grounds were not ready at all, but I am very happy with the progress. We have already played matches in Pallakelle and by January-February we will have games in Hambantota. We are unlikely to have any problems with the Premadasa. Then comes the infrastructure, which we hope to start within the first and third weeks of January. We feel there is enough time and though we say that there is always a time limit for the infrastructure, we can go on till somewhere round January 15, 2011.

Do you think all three venues will be ready in time for the World Cup?

I am 100% sure they will be ready.

How did venues like Pallakelle and Hambantota get the nod ahead of other reputed grounds in Sri Lanka?

There are many reasons for that. When you have a World Cup, you've got to have a legacy behind it. Between 2004-2007, SLC brought the Pallakelle Stadium for about Rs 350 million and it was just lying there and going to waste. When we looked at the World Cup budget, we foresaw there were certain amounts that certain infrastructure developments could utilise. Hence we decided on Pallakelle.

The chairman wants to take cricket to the villages as much as possible. If you travel south from Colombo, once you pass Moratuwa there is no ground other than the Galle Stadium. There is nothing you can do with the Galle Stadium because of the heritage problems. It is very difficult to stage a one-day match because the maximum capacity is 7000 and you also cannot put up lights. With regard to Dambulla, we will have to spend at least Rs 800-1000 million to upgrade it with lights. The SSC and P Sara Oval, on the other hand, do not belong to SLC. The previous administrators had also looked at Hambantota as an international venue. Hambantota is a developing town. It is a place where there is easy access to the Uva Province, Sabaragamuwa Province and the Southern Province. We got 47 acres of land from the Board of Investment (BOI) and we looked at all the facilities before deciding to put up a stadium there.