A thought from a loyal Sri Lankan cricket fan
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I’ve been thinking for years, but never had the guts to do it. To pen down my thoughts about Sri Lankan cricket. Some would take it in good spirit. Some may not. Despite this, amidst the unmixable mix of emotions, allow me to express my thought.
Think a minute or wait, allow me to ask you this. Have you ever felt that feeling? That feeling when the cricket team loses a game? That feeling of sadness, that heavy feeling that runs from the depths of your heart making you not want to do any work for the rest of the day.
It hurts, it hurts so BAD. The heart is so heavy and the only option you have is to create a scene and try to break-up with the one true love of your life. You give it thought. You try so hard. You try so hard to stay away. What does this result in?
It only makes you realise that you have married cricket or that cricket has married you and it only makes it so difficult to stay away or ask for a divorce now. It’s way too late.
Sri Lanka cricket… most appropriately described as the first and last love of any passionate Sri Lankan cricket fan.
I honestly have no clue since when this undying passion and love for cricket began. All I know is that I sat myself in front of the TV one day and watched 11 men playing a game that I enjoyed watching. I had no clue of what the big technical terms meant, I had no idea as to why people were celebrating and why a guy walked off the field amidst the celebration of the opposition team.
They may have been playing tomato on my head and the guy that walked off, well maybe he was the catcher for the next round. He was upset, so he walked off the field and the others were joking about it. One may feel that my imagination ran a little wild. Yet, who knew? I was only a kid.
But why did the other guy have a bat? Why was there an uncle wearing a hat raising a finger? Curiosity kills the cat, they say. I needed answers. So I decided to join my dad and explore this sport a bit more. Who knew then that this sport would be an irreplaceable part of my day- to-day routine and yours? This I’m sure is the story or one story that is relatable to every cricket fan that follows the game closely.
You learn the names of the heroes of your team.
Eventually, you find an idol, an icon that you want to have as your role model. Mine was an obvious one, by the name of Kumar Sangakkara. There were so many other Sri Lankan players and international players that I admired as a kid. But I’m a kid of the late ’90s, which makes me more of a follower of modern day cricket than that of the past. That certainly does not mean that I do not know or follow cricket of the past. Pretty sure you could relate to that too, cricket lovers.
There are so many types of cricket fans. There are some of us who don’t miss a single game but somehow try to watch the live stream via YouTube or keep constantly checking the score via Cricbuzz or Cricinfo. There are some of us who stop our vehicles before an Abans or Singer showroom to get a glimpse of the situation of the ongoing game. Some of us who watch highlights of a match, if we could not watch a single delivery in the game. There are some of us who watch the live telecast and re-watch the match highlights again despite the fact that Sri Lanka win the game or lose it.
There are some fans who climb on trees or climb to the highest part of a building or sit in the scorching sun on the grass bank to watch the game live no matter how uncomfortable it is, in order to get a glimpse of the live action at a cricket ground. There are some of us who fight for the remote at home not allowing anybody else to watch anything else on TV when Sri Lanka plays a game. Some of us who go to other houses if we do not have a TV at home. Some of us who flop our exams because we forgot that we have an exam the next day and watched a cricket match the previous night.
We feel drowsy when there is not a single game of cricket to follow, or when a series that involves Sri Lanka comes to an end. This is who we are. Sri Lankan cricket fans. We keep waiting so eagerly for the next. We keep holding on. Loyal unto the end.
The ’96 World Cup, 2007 World Cup, the Melbourne Miracle, the 2011 World Cup, the 2012 T20 World Cup, the 2014 T20 World Cup, the England Test series win, the Asia Cup, the white wash against Australia and the Test series win in South Africa, these are just the most significant wins that we have witnessed and will always cherish.
Yet, there are so many more that may have slipped my memory. So, I will just say the list goes on. These memories are definitely a few of those that have transformed this sport in to an irreplaceable part of our lives. A part of our life line. This is why it hurts to see, and smarts so much to witness the plight of the Sri Lankan team today.
This is why the loyal fans insult, criticise, scold, argue and yet never let go. That nostalgia of the past just does not allow us to let go even if we want to.
I’ve always been a fan in the sidelines, a silent one. One fan that has been hopeful amongst millions of passionate ones. So on behalf of all of us, just remember that despite all the ranting and banter, win or lose, we will always be there. We’ve got your back.
Yours truly,
Nicholle Collom
A loyal Sri Lankan cricket fan