Galle International Stadium, situated 116km south of Colombo, is one of the world’s most beautiful cricketing venues. A 200-year-old UNESCO protected Dutch fort provides a dramatic backdrop for the breathtaking view of the glistening Indian Ocean in the distance. The venue played its first first-class match in 1984 and its inaugural Test match in 1997/98 when Sri Lanka took on New Zealand.

HIGHLIGHTS

SRI LANKA Vs. ENGLAND (2003)

It may have been guarding Sri Lanka's southern coastline for the best part of 400 years, but the old Dutch fort at Galle can rarely have witnessed a more magnificent backs-to-the-ramparts effort than England's tailenders produced to save the first Test. From a position of apparent hopelessness at lunch on the final day, England rallied sufficiently to cling to their positions until nightfall, before being airlifted to Kandy on Sunday in a military helicopter, with their spirits at a higher ebb than at any other stage this winter.
It was a match in which an English defeat ought to have been a formality, especially after losing the toss at Muttiah Muralitharan's most prolific hunting-ground. Instead, they held out, and for all the brave words being uttered publicly by the Sri Lankan players and officials, their failure to break through England's defenses has been a shattering disappointment. On a local radio phone-in on Sunday afternoon, the presenter referred bleakly to "Sri Lanka's defeat" on more than half-a-dozen occasions, and not one single caller felt the need to correct him.
By escaping with a draw, England are already in a stronger position in this series than they were two years ago, when Kandy was the venue for one of the most explosive Test encounters in recent years. England eventually won a nail biter by just three wickets, although the result said nothing of the main incidents of the match - dodgy umpiring that brought even the mild-mannered Sanath Jaysuriya to the brink of apoplexy, a finger-jabbing face-off between Kumar Sangakkara and the rarely ruffled Mike Atherton, and most crucially of all for England, a hard-fought (if fortunate) century by Nasser Hussain, which brought an end to the most desperate run of form of his career.
Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Tillekaratne Dilshan, 6 Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), 7 Thilan Samaraweera, 8 Kumar Dharmasena, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.
England 1 Michael Vaughan (capt), 2 Marcus Trescothick, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain, 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Gareth Batty, 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Richard Johnson, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

Australian Tour of Sri Lanka - 2004

The mighty Aussies took on the Sri Lankan lions on the 5th & 12th of March, 2004 at the Galle International Cricket Ground. The 1st test played at Galle was a high scoring one with the Aussies clinching the match much to the dismay of the local supporters.

1st Inn - AUS 220/all out, 68.3 overs
1st Inn - SL 381/all out, 136.4 overs

2nd Inn - AUS 512/8 [declared], 152.0 overs
2nd Inn - SL 154/all out, 45.2 overs

Result: Australia won by 197 runs.