Thoughts from London

Buth curry dinners
Had it been in Colombo, the Sri Lanka Cricket Team Manager's response last Sunday would have been greeted with the traditional raucous hoot reserved for umpires who give 'hora out'.

He might still have been at the receiving end of a similar but obviously more muted reaction, had he been here. Since he is several thousand kilometres away, all I hear is derisive laughter and cynical snorts even from cricket-lovers and others unconnected with these stories of cricketing shenanigans during the ICC Championship Trophy match against England.

For those who missed last week's saga and the Manager’s reply let me briefly recap. Some Sri Lankans who stayed overnight at the Marriot Hotel in Portsmouth where our cricket team was lodged, alleged that some players with bacchanalian propensities were in high spirits till the early hours of the morning.

While no accusations were levelled against the entire team or most of them, the comments related to some players and non-players. An offer of a bottle of whisky was made around 2 a.m., which, as investigators say, sets the time.

Since I now find myself in the role of the devil's advocate, I hope the Bar Council will not take offence for practising without a licence, particularly its president Ikram Mohamed who is keen to see journalists hauled up for contempt of court.

Those familiar with the notorious "Profumo Case" in England will remember Mandy Rice-Davies, one of the girls involved in it. When one of those she named denied any dealings with her, she famously said: "He would, wouldn't he."

The denial seems to evoke similar cynicism. He has not produced an iota of evidence in rebuttal (now did I get that correct, Bar Council?). Readers will recall that the match with England played on a Friday had to be continued the next day due to rain. The rumours are particularly about what happened on the second floor of the Marriot that Friday night.

Here is what the Manager has to say:
"On Friday the team was invited for a dinner by a Sri Lankan. However as the match was to continue next day, it was only the captain, myself as manager and the reserves who attended the dinner along with officials from Sri Lanka Cricket. We were back in the hotel as early as 9.30 since the driver of the bus had to be released by that time."

Some followers of the game ask whether it was correct for the team manager and the officials to take the captain along for a dinner when he should have been in the hotel resting ahead of a crucial stage in the game next day?

"Is the dinner more important than the game, especially as we had England in a tight spot when the game was stopped on Friday afternoon?" asked a cricket-loving surgeon. What was so critical about this dinner that the team captain had to be risked? Were the officials and others trying to satisfy the host at the expense of the game?

Supposing the bus in which they were travelling had met with an accident and Marvan Atapattu was injured? Never mind what happens to the officials. They are not important to the game in progress.

What would have been the consequences had an accident occurred?
These are questions being asked. That, of course, is not all. The Manager says they were back in the hotel by 9.30 p.m. Why? Because the driver had to be released.

Are we to conclude then that team manager, officials, captain et al, would have stayed back longer had it not been for the driver?

Would not that mean the team captain staying up even longer? He, after all, is the man who has to think on his feet in the field, not the manager or the cricket officials who are probably just there for the trip anyway.

This was a captain who had to match his cricketing wits with a resurgent England side that has beaten all in recent months. Instead of being left in his hotel to map out a strategy before next day's encounter, he's been dragged along like some trophy to be displayed.

The Manager does not mention how many reserves went along for the great and indispensable dinner. One supposes that if two of them attended the dinner, then the rest of the team should have been in the hotel and hopefully in their rooms.

Are we to presume that the Manager and his retinue retired to their own rooms after returning at 9.30pm, around the time some Sri Lankans were checking into the same hotel?

How does he then know whether any drinking was going on in the rooms or not? Did he go knocking on the doors of rooms 211, 213 and other second floor rooms occupied by the players to ensure the little darlings were safely tucked in and sound asleep?

If not, how could the Manager deny the rumours so vehemently. Clairvoyance? Anjanang eliya?

Nothing like that. What he does say is that he knows the cricketers well. They will not do what they are alleged to have done. In short we are asked to trust him because he knows the cricketers. They are also adults.

If his explanation is lamentable, his logic is worse. The cricketers are adults. Therefore they will not misbehave. It is not the allegations that are rubbish, it is his resort to non sequitur.

Sri Lanka Cricket officials should look at the goings on in the world of cricket. Those accused of accepting money from bookies and other forms of corruption, of drug-taking, of verbal and other abuse, were not little kids in their nappies but adults and international players.

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