Halliday recalls tsunami 2004
“We were to play a Galle district combined schools XI at the Galle Cricket Ground on December 26, 2004. The match was to start at 10.00am and Simon had the boys on the field in front of the pavilion when we heard people screaming and when I looked that way, I saw a mass of water rolling towards us. The boys did not panic and we got them to the top floor of the two storied pavilion,” said Coach Steven Jones who accompanied the Harrow School cricket team on its first tour to Sri Lanka in December 2004.
Simon Halliday: It was a miracle that all of us were saved.
“I was the last to go up the steps and by that time I was knee deep in water. Then the water came from the other side of the rampart as well and when the second wave hit the ground floor was under water. The boys were worried if the water level would rise further and they were grading their swimming abilities,” he added.
“The water receded in a couple of hours and we made our way to the Galle Fort. We had left all our belongings including our passports at our hotel in Koggala. The manager of the Galle Fort Hotel was good enough to let us spend the night there. The Hidramani family sent a couple of mini buses the next day which took us back to Colombo through an inland route. The bus we had journeyed in was lying on its side on the square and the whole place was in chaos.” Jones recalling the whole incident said.
Simon Halliday Master-in-charge of cricket at Harrow School was the other member of the touring team in 2004 to return in 2013.
The Harrow School team was at practices here when they heard the people scream
“It was a miracle that all of us were saved. One boy lost his father who was on his way to Galle which saddened the team. We owe much to the Hidramani family who saw us through till we left Sri Lanka. On getting back home we raised 300,000 Sterling Pounds and helped rebuild Vidyaloka College in Galle. When we left Galle in 2004 it was in shambles and we are truly honored to be back and see the vast development that has taken place within the past nine years.”
The Harrow School Cricket team is back in Sri Lanka nine years later and played St. Aloysius College at the Galle International Cricket Stadium last Sunday (15).
‘The first ball bowled in Galle on December 15, 2013 brought a lump to my throat’ is how Simon concludes his article ‘reflections on Sri Lanka 2004’.