Cricket soothes asylum seekers' woes
Phil Mercer of the BBC meets a group of Tamils seeking asylum in Australia and learns how cricket helps escape the dread they feel about going back home to Sri Lanka
07-Jun-2014
Ayslum seekers to Australia have to undergo mandatory detention to assess health and security issues. Most of them are smuggled into the country via boats from Indonesia, but the journey isn't the safest and deportation is only a phone call away. Phil Mercer of the BBC meets a group of Tamils from Sri Lanka who have taken to the cricket field as a way to escape the dread they feel about going back home.
"It helps them to almost feel that they are part of the community they want to be a part of," said Deenu Rajaratnam, the Sydney league manager for Last Man Stands, which runs the global T20 competition.
"Here they are getting a chance to actually live like anyone else on the field. They are equal, they are competing. They have the same chance of hitting a six, or a four or of getting a wicket as the opposition."