Sri Lanka Will Rise Again (24 Dec 1996)

24 December 1996

Cricket: Lanka will rise again

From Ivan Corea in London

Human nature is such that we build up our heroes and then knock them down - a case in point is the Sri Lankan cricket team led by Arjuna Ranatunga who are now being criticised for a run of defeats.

You can`t win them all the time but with a disciplined approach to the game - and keeping politics out of cricket - there might be a chance that Sri Lanka`s cricketers will rise again - just in time for the next World Cup in England.

As the year draws to a close - tributes are coming in to the Sri Lankan cricket team for bringing a ray of sunshine to the Indian sub-continent when they thrashed the Australians in the finals of the World Cup in Lahore.

In a piece titled ``A Year To Remember`` the Eastern Eye newspaper has a large photograph of Arjuna Ranatunga lifting the World Cup.

``Unfancied Sri Lanka buoyed up by Australia`s snub, were quietly annihilating anyone they faced. India beat Pakistan and Sri Lanka beat India. The final in the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore was the ideal opportunity for Sri Lanka to settle their score against the hot favourites Australia - and they took the opportunity with style. Ranatunga and De Silva the men who`ve been part of the Sri Lankan side since they gained test status in the early eighties, were there at the crease to hit the runs which sent the Australians packing.....``

Who can ever forget what our cricketers did in Lahore - it is one of the high points of 1996 - Eastern Eye published in the UK gave the Sri Lankans the Eastern Eye Cricket Team of the Year Award to Arjuna Ranatunga when he and the team visited London in May. They were mobbed by the media at a Sri Lanka Today press luncheon at the Tandoori Nights Restaurant in Maida Vale.

They may be on a losing streak but I am convinced that the team will rise again. They deserved to win on that night in Lahore - grown men cried in Lahore and all over the world as the lion on our flag roared with delight when Sri Lanka who have been the whipping boys of cricket thrashed the mighty Australians.

I still believe that Sri Lanka deserves a three test series in the UK.

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