How cricket saved Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a country with a troubled recent history, and still bears the scars of the decades-long civil war from which it emerged about two years ago. But playing host to the World Cup has brought the people together and given them something to cheer about, writes Shehan Karunatilaka in the Observer,

A car slides down this dusty lane and waits until the over is finished. Over here, cars give way to cricket matches. In fact, these days, with Sri Lanka co-hosting the World Cup, everything gives way to cricket matches. TVs are switched on in offices, brothels, banks and tea shops. Work halts, roads empty and all the squabbling that has marked our last 50 years is put on hold.

We forget that we have coastlines to clear, refugees to settle, assassins to catch and most recently, floods to mop up. When a cricket match is on, even the civil war is given the month off.