The end of the road

Sarfraz Ahmed slept with the World Cup last night and you can hardly blame him considering it looked to have slipped away from him yesterday. The Pakistan team savoured their victory today, as the Indians made a hasty retreat back home – although, to be fair, it was always their schedule to fly out of Colombo early this morning. However, I expect they are now fairly happy with that planning.

After filing my last couple of stories I had some spare time before heading to the airport. One final chance to do a spot of shopping, making sure I have souvenirs for everyone. Today was also an example of things happening when you least expect them – and bit like India’s collapse last night.

I’ve got to the stage of not thinking twice about the driving skills of the tuk-tuk drivers and that was always a recipe for something to go wrong. On probably my last journey after three weeks of some near-misses but no actually hits we had a full-blown prang on the way back from the shopping centre. Speeding up a narrow street a van was pulling out in front of the tuk-tuk; I could see it, surely the driver could? Well, he hadn’t, or he liked a challenge. With his foot on the gas we headed towards a narrowing gap between the van and the wall, it was time to just cross your fingers.

I thought we might just squeeze through. Nope. Clunk, snap, screech. I can’t really use the words that came out of my mouth as we pulled to a sudden halt. Sticking my head out of the cab I could see a very irate guy holding up his front bumper. My driver obviously had certain priorities; first he checked his tuk-tuk, which had a huge dent in the side, then went to placate the van owner.

Anyway, no major damage done – except to the bumper, and in many ways it was an apt end to my time in Colombo. It started, three weeks ago, with a journey through the morning rush hour and it has ended with one final brush with the city’s individual driving skills. The time here has been a real eye-opener, both in witnessing a crop of young cricketers to experiencing the subcontinent for the first time. It is certainly a part of the world I want to visit again. For now, though, I’d best get ready to dig out the thermals – apparently it is a bit chilly back in London.