Sri Lanka It's Happening

January 9, 2005

Until the start of the year the most unpopular sportsman in Australia probably was Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan. The most unpopular sportsman in Sri Lanka was easily Shane Warne. How things have changed after the tsunami.

Today were presented with an amazing cricket spectacle in the form of Asia vs Rest of the world match played in order to raise funds for the tsunami victims. Both warne and Murali played in this match and the warm welcome that murali recieved was just amazing. The next time Shane Warne visits sri lanka he will get an equally warm reception.

In fact the next time Warny pays us a visit it will not be for a cricket match, it will be to help out in the relief efforts, along side his old rival Murali.

Getting back to the match, hats off to the organizer and sponsers who made it possible. They organied the event in less than two weeks. An amazing feat when you consider the tight schedules of modern day sportsmen. And hats off to the sports loving public of Australia. Apparently 80,000 tickets were sold out in two days.

The gate money, the money from the sale of food and drinks at the ground and the contributions from the sponsers and the spectators (both at the grounds and on tv) had raised nearly Aussie Dollars 15,000,000 for the cause.

Forget the cricket, what a fantastic match it turned out to be.

Posted by raditha at January 9, 2005 2:32 PM