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England officials made to eat own words Sri Lankan cricket team gained nothing but praise from the British press following their epoch-making Test win over England. Except for the early hiccups, the Sri Lankan had a successful tour of England winnings both the Emirates Trophy and the Test match. THOUGHT NOT GLAMOROUS ENOUGH Before the tour started a high official of the England Cricket Board (ECB) had said in an interview that that the Sri Lankan team was not glamorous enough and not crowd pullers to give more than one Test match. But this official had to eat his own words after the end results with people having flocked to the grounds whenever Sri Lanka played. Tickets for the first three days of the Test match were fully sold out and on the fourth and fifth days the ground was 90 per cent full. Former Test cricketers turned media pundits like David Gower, Bob Willis, Ian Botham, Geoff Boycott, Mark Nicholas, Derek Pringle and Jonatham Agnew are questioning the ECB as to why an entertaining team like Sri Lanka is not given more than one Test match. In the meantime, England cricket coach, David Lloyd who got into trouble by speaking to the press about his suspicion of Muralitharan’s bowling action, was reprimanded by the ECB at the hearing on Thursday in London. Lloyd also had a fierce argument with former England opening batsman Geoff Boycott when Boycott said," It would help if the coach would keep his mouth shut. He shouldn’t make interferences about the player’s action, especially when England are losing". This is how a section of the British press hailed Sri Lanka’s Test triumph the following morning: THE TIMES: ‘England sent spinning to humilitation’ (by Alan Lee) — All too soon, the froth and fizz of England’s cricketing summer went flat. Three weeks after the dizz joys of Headingley, they were overwhelmed. Magical Murali’s Sweet 16 — "Spin Wizard routs England" — (by Chris Lander) — Muttiah Muralitharan joined cricket’s immortals with one of the great slow bowling performances yesterday. Bumbling Lloyd should by ashamed (by Ian Botham) — David Lloyd should be ashamed of himself for trying to mask England’s defeat by launching a new smear campaign against Sri Lanka’s brilliant off-spinner. DAILY MAIL — ‘England sunk by magic of Murali’ (by Alan Fraser) — Cricket maybe a mind-numbing statistics but is also a game of tremendous human endeavour and stirring emotion. The
Island editorial quoted COLOMBO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Ballads and poetry dedicated to modern cricketers may not be regularly written in most countries the game is played in. But in Sri Lanka, where cricket instils national pride and newspapers are either full of lyrical praise or condemnation for most things, there was even a report of a death because of the team's recent victory over England. Last week the prose and ballads got even better as Arjuna Ranatunga and his team returned home after winning by 10 wickets in the one off test at Lords. The tributes paralleled those the team received after it won the World Cup in 1996. "Breathes there a man, woman or child with soul so dead, who had not been moved by the deeds of doughty men Arjuna has led," wrote the independent Island newspaper as it summed up the emotions of most Sri Lankans. At least one man was reported to have died in the central hill town of Kandy due to a heart failure, unable to handle Sri Lanka's victory. "A heart attack caused by excessive happiness," an inquest was told, the state-owned Daily News reported. R.G. Ranasinghe's wife told an inquiry that her husband was ecstatic over the team's victory and complained of chest pain. The triumph also fuelled an acute sense of patriotism. "For Sri Lankans beating England means much more than beating any other cricketing nation," the Island continued. "Firstly, they were our imperial masters who taught us the game. And what better feeling can you get than outclassing your own master at his own game?" In Kandy, tens of thousands of people thronged the streets to welcome a local confectioner's son who spun a web around the English batsmen to claim 16 wickets and bring Sri Lanka victory. Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan returned home a hero, riding an open car and lost in garlands as ministers and officials made a beeline to shake his hand. "We saw history being re-written when... people of Kandy turned out on Friday to greet their conquering hero Muttiah Muralitharan some 183 years after the invading Englishmen had captured Kandy," the Sunday Times said in an editorial. The British colonial rulers defeated the Kandy king in 1815 to stamp their authority over Sri Lanka, which eventually gained independence in 1948. England coach David Lloyd caused controversy during the test match when he hinted that Muralitharan's bowling action might be illegal. Muralitharan was no-balled for throwing during the Australian tour three years ago but was later cleared by the International Cricket Council, the sport's governing body. |
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