Day 1 & 2: Arrive into the airport
early on Day 1 - welcome to Sri Lanka. After your long flight
it is only a short drive to The Beach Hotel in Negombo,
where you can relax by the classy infinity swimming pool
or on the clean and sandy beach. Negombo is a lively coastal
town and this serves as a gentle introduction to Sri Lanka
before your first match. After a hearty breakfast on Day
2, it is time to board your tour coach and head to MATCH
1 at the beautiful Welegadera Stadium. Situated at the foot
of the huge granite Elephant Rock and overlooked by a large
Buddha, this ground at Kurunegala is often used for international
tour matches and is a great introduction to cricket on the
island. After the match – which we recommend so soon
after your arrival that you keep to a maximum 30 overs –
you venture into the Kandyan Hills to find the Victoria
Golf and Country Club. You will arrive a little weary, with
night having closed in, but the sights next morning will
make it all worthwhile.
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Accommodation Profile: The
Beach is the best thing to have happened to Negombo in the
past decade. The resort used to be synonymous with low-grade
package travel, but The Beach caters to an entirely different
clientele. The five-star hotel was reopened in Jan 2005
after a complete refurbishment which has transformed the
property into a chic and stylish hotel offering great luxury
and a warm and attentive level of service. Red Dot highly
recommends it. The theme for the interior décor is
similar to The Lighthouse in Galle, another Jetwing Hotel,
with an emphasis on natural simplicity, but there is also
a slightly more modern touch. The rooms are spacious and
furnished with beautiful dark wooden furniture and high
quality linen. The bathrooms have showers like waterfalls
and bathtubs.
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Day 3, 4 & 5: Awake in the Victoria
Golf and Country Club. The morning sun will immediately
rouse your spirits as it reveals one of Sri Lanka’s
best kept secrets. Nestled within the Kandyan hills, Victoria
is a stunning destination and perfectly equipped for a cricket
touring team. Day 3 can be spent on the world class golf
course, or perhaps by the large pool. Tennis, bird watching
and horse riding is also available. On Day 4 you take the
short drive into Kandy and play MATCH 2 at the unique Asgiriya
Stadium, which is the only Test ground to be owned by a
school and which possesses a square with comparative pace
and bounce. On Day 5, having played the course already,
the golfers will take on Victoria Golf Club in a golf match
and the non golfers can lounge by the pool, go mountain
biking, birdwatching or hiking, or even explore Kandy. In
the evening, enjoy a poolside barbeque hosted by the club.
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Accommodation Profile: The
new one-bedroom chalets, all owned and managed by the Victoria
Golf and Country Club, are positioned on the edge of the
golf course, close to the tennis court and swimming pool,
with only the putting green separating it from the club
house. The accommodation is perfect for the golf enthusiast
who wants to waste no time before getting on the first tee,
but the tranquil location is so beautiful that even non-golfing
travelling partners will enjoy their stay. Each room has
verandahs from which you can enjoy spectacular mountain
views. Rooms have a/c, overhead fans, satellite TV, DVD,
IDD telephone, and tea / coffee making facilities. Alternatively,
the group may share larger villas of excellent quality.
We can also quote for Kandy hotels if the tour group prefers
a more central location.
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Day 6 & 7: Potentially a few sore
heads this morning. None the less, the tour continues and
it is an early start to catch the mountain train to Nuwara
Eliya. This is perhaps one of the world’s most spectacular
railway lines as the train hugs the mountain side on its
way through the tea plantations of the central highlands.
The tour bus will take all the kit and meet you at Nuwara
Eliya. The late afternoon of Day 6 may present the opportunity
for more golf or a chance to tour a tea plantation. The
next day, Day 7, is MATCH 3. This will be held at the spectacular
Radella Cricket Club, a simple yet evocative ground built
in a natural amphitheatre, surrounded by steep tea-laden
slopes. This is a unique cricketing venue, and never again
will you enjoy a match tea that has been grown so close
to the pavilion you drink it in. After the game, make the
25-minute journey or so back to the Hill Club, don your
club blazer and enjoy a dinner with colonial overtones.
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Accommodation Profile: The
Hill Club has one of the finest settings in Nuwara Eliya.
This timber-and-stone mansion house was founded in 1876
by a homesick British coffee planter, as a "home"
away from home. Nowhere in Sri Lanka reeks so deliberately
of the colonial age. Only lovers of Britain’s imperial
past should set foot here. They say the walls talk to you
and, when they do, it will be in an upper-class colonial
accent advising you that gentlemen wear ties for dinner.
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Value it as rare living history,
or ask us to look elsewhere. A sense of colonial grandeur
pervades every aspect of the Hill Club, from its green, manicured
lawns to its snooker room, log fires and its insistence that
gentlemen wear jacket and tie for dinner (shoes as well, incidentally,
although, I say, there was a time when shoes could be taken
as read).
Day 8 & 9: After a relaxed breakfast,
the team will now make its way down from the highlands and
towards Uda Walawe National Park for a night camping in the
bush. This is camping in style and the night under the stars
in the Sri Lankan wilderness undoubtedly will be a tour highlight.
Wildlife is abundant across these beautiful plains and there
will opportunity to view large herds of elephant and buffalo.
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Accommodation Profile: Campsites
will have been set up with your arrival and are beautifully
laid out with canvas tents, sturdy hammocks, hot and cold
showers, wooden tables and chairs. On the campsite itself,
there will be endless points of interest, whether looking
out over a waterhole at breakfast, snoozing in a hammock after
lunch or stargazing over dinner. The team will be invited
(but not forced!) to rise just before dawn for a hot cup of
tea or coffee, before setting off for a morning game drive
in quality safari vehicles. These handle every kind of terrain,
give an excellent view and are specially fitted with camera
support points for photographers.
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Day 10, 11, 12: After your safari, the team
will continue its tour towards the historical coastal town
of Galle. The team will stay within the walls of the UNESCO
World Heritage Site at the renowned Galle Fort Hotel. From
this great location you can explore local beaches, enjoy numerous
beach bars and a number of great restaurants. On Day 12, you
play MATCH 4 at Galle International Stadium. Everybody wants
to play at Galle. The famous old ground in the shadow of the
Dutch Fort was rebuilt after the tsunami and received an outpouring
of support and affection that confirmed it as one of the most
loved venues in the world. Unsurprisingly, ground rental charges
have risen to meet a challenging future, but the game has
an undeniable resonance.
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Accommodation Profile: Galle
Fort is arguably one of the most uplifting and cultural experiences
that Sri Lanka can offer. Now the restoration of the Galle
Fort Hotel, which began life as an 18C Dutch villa, adds to
Sri Lanka’s select band of luxury old-colonial hotels.
The renovation of Galle Fort is a triumph. The hotel evokes
a subtle sense of colonial grandeur, skilfully updated for
the modern age. The inner courtyard, with a tiny garden and
10-metre swimming pool, offers a tranquil and exclusive area
for guests. But a sense of history does not mean that the
Galle Fort’s guests will gather dust; far from it. The
small bar-cum-verandah cafe is becoming a favoured meeting
point, with the two Australian owners encouraging a convivial
atmosphere where intelligent opinions are welcomed.
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Day 13, 14 & 15: After your stint in
Galle, the tour begins its journey home. The drive up the
coast road to Colombo can be broken up with a trip to a tsunami
relief project or turtle hatchery. You could even find time
for an additional Twenty20 match on the artificial pitch at
Seenigama, the tsunami village that has been rebuilt by the
Foundation for Gooddness charity, with the help of Surrey
and MCC among others. Once in Colombo, Red Dot would recommend
the charming Mount Lavinia Hotel. On Day 14, MATCH 5 is the
final match of your tour. This will be played at one of Colombo’
numerous first class venues and followed by an end of tour
dinner in one of the cities premier restaurants. The following
day, leave to the airport in good time for your return flight.
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Accommodation Profile: Mount
Lavinia is on the southern fringe of Colombo, and is famed
as the capital's only true beach resort. The hotel, a characterful
beachside hotel of great tradition, was famously once the
sprawling mansion of a British governor general in colonial
times. It has been refurbished in a manner which seeks to
provide modern amenities while preserving its old-world charm.
Situated only 12km outside the city centre, it is a also a
convenient base to explore Colombo. |
safari.
You will need to hit the ground running as your first game
is on Day 2. We will take that into account when we arrange
the opposition and the length of the game.
