The religion that is Cricket

Alright, I'll 'fess up. I am not and never will be a cricket nut, much to the eternal disappointment (shame?) of both my father and brother. To tell the truth it bores me rigid. I would rather have my toe-nails pulled out slowly with hot pliers than watch a game - with one exception - when the West Indies are playing. And this of course has nothing to do with the game, but the spectators. When there are West Indian spectators at a game it is a bit like when the Brazilians are supporting one of their national teams. What was dull and conformist suddenly becomes fun - old grandpas waving their umbrellas in the air, drums beating, women singing - their joie de vivre is catching and you can't help but be enthused. So for me, it's all about the crowd.

Now I knew before I came here that the SL's LOVE cricket. My brother (who lives in Germany) is Captain of a cricket team. From memory, he's got one other German on his team, 2 Indians and the rest are Sri Lankans. So I knew this was BIG. But a bit like the driving I had no idea how much that would impact on daily interactions. In any given conversation with a Sri Lankan, it is only a matter of time before you are asked: "Where are you from?", and with strangers that is normally the first question. So when you answer, Australia, well you can imagine the reaction. Both Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting seem to be national heroes of SL, and indeed many Sri Lankans regard Shane Warne as a personal friend because of the great work he has done in re-establishing the famous cricket ground at Galle which was damaged by the tsunami.

When we first arrived, we would often see groups of men congregated around shop windows. Being a bit nosy myself (inquisitive I like to think) I had to go and look at what they were looking at - of course it was a TV shop and was showing the game. A large section of society don't have tv's here, so when there's a game on you'll find any electrical shop is surrounded - don't know if they sell anything though!

Tim (Duncan's Lend lease colleague) asked him whether he liked cricket on our first night. And when DY replied "negative", Tim's response was to laugh and say that that would have to change. And it's true. It comes up in every conversation, it is lived and breathed, and it is impossible to do business in this country without first covering the etiquette of cricket.

Percentage of Sri Lankans who are Buddhist - 70; percentage of Sri Lankans who follow cricket - 100! So if anyone can tell me who else is in the Aussie cricket team, or the names of any of the SL batsmen I'll be eternally grateful .....