Inaugural home venues of the 10 Test playing nations

#8 P. Sara Oval, Colombo, 1982 (Sri Lanka vs England)

A still of the P. Sara Oval during a Test match

Match count: 20

The Lankan Lions came into international cricket after a long gap following Pakistan’s entry in 1955; the Island nation played its first Test match in Colombo. The Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium or popularly known as the P. Sara Oval, hosted the first ever Test match featuring the Sri Lankan cricket team in 1982 but they ended on the losing side, losing the match to England by 7 wickets.

Holding a capacity of 15,000, the ground is named after Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, a former civil servant and the first President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Ceylon. The home of the Tamil Nadu Cricket and Athletic Club, the P. Sara Oval had been hosting matches regularly until 1994, after which it was not given a match for 8 years.

In 2002, the historic ground played host again to a Test match between Australia and Pakistan. The last Test match played at this venue was in October 2015.