Lanka cricketers leave Australia with relief (9 February 1999)

9 February 1999

Lanka cricketers leave Australia with relief

Elmo Rodrigopulle

MELBOURNE, Monday - The Sri Lankan cricketers will want to forget, and forget quickly the tour of Australia which went rancid even before they arrived here, because to remember it would mean to spoil their whole cricketing system and future.

The Lankan cricketers flew out today on the earliest possible fight with off spinner Muthiah Muralitharan having no option but to stay back and have corrective surgery to his bowling shoulder.

The Lankans could have ended this tour in glory had they humbled the Aussies in the final preliminary game. They had every opportunity to do this. And had they stuffed the kangaroos, they would have had memorable souvenirs to take back.

The game in Melbourne on Sunday was no different to the others. Here too the Aussie spectators booed skipper Ranatunga and shouted remarks at Muralitharan, the most audible being 'chucker', 'chucker'. One cannot understand the petulance of the Aussies.

But the flag-waving Sri Lankan supporters numbering a near ten thousand who filled the Southern stands went into ecstasy when Romesh Kaluwitharane and Avishka Gunewardene smashed the Aussie bowlers around.

In unision they shouted: 'Shame Warne 5,000, Mark Waugh 6,000'. They were referring to the bribes Warne and Waugh had alleged to have taken for selling information to a bookie. Unable to stomach this, security guards on the ground cautioned cheer leaders Lionel and Tissa who were urging the Lankan crowd on. But the Lankans who are aware of the trauma that the cricketers are suffering could not be silenced.

To the credit of Lionel and Tissa, it must be said that they did a wonderful job at every venue that the Lankans played. They got the Lankan supporters revved up and their cheering galvanized the cricketers. If not for them, the cricketers would have been at the receiving end. This prompted manager Ranjit Fernando to say at a reception. 'Thank you for all the support because we are a team in a crisis'.

In fact it was Lionel and Tissa who stood by and supported Arjuna Ranatunga when he was facing a ICC code of conduct hearing which at one point looked like spinning Ranatunga out of the game.

In Adelaide where the inquiry first began, Lionel and Tissa carried a banner which read - 'Free Arjuna, Hang Emerson'. They kept up an incessant chant shouting encouragement to Ranatunga while the inquiry was on. Aussie cricket fans who were queueing up for tickets for the Australia - England game were amazed at the support shown to their captain.

Then when the inquiry recommenced in Perth, Lionel and Tissa gathered together a near 100 strong Sri Lankans and continued their chants. Some of the banners carried read: 'Arjuna Hero, Emerson Zero' - 'Rowan Stay In The Lou'. Rowan was a former test umpire who went on TV demanding that Ranatunga be banned for 12 months and the ban be revived after the 12 months. These banners were beamed on TV and what laughter they evoked!

All this unpleasantness could have been avoided and cricket played in the true spirit had the Australian Cricket Board acted with more responsibility. When they stood Ross Emerson and Tony McQuillan at Adelaide against Sri Lanka, one need not have been a seer to predict that one of them was going to call Muralitharan, thus justifying their stand during Lanka's previous tour.

The bungling by the ACB, prompted a wag to say that it is high time that the ACB was taught their ABC of cricket and how to administer it. He was also referring to the cover up job by the ACB on the Warne-Waugh bribery scandal.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)