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Published: December 15th 2006
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his is going back a few years, well 6 to be exactish. It all started after I joined the San Diego cricket club back in 99. I was quickly promoted the the first XI where I was a bit of an all rounder. Only being 18, I was by far the youngest in the team. The others players were a mixture of Indians, Englishmen, West Indians, Zimbabwians and of course me. I was playing a game up in Burbank at Woodley where I had a fairly solid knock of 35. I was spotted by some scouts who recommended me to play in the upcoming U19 cricket world cup in Sri Lanka. The rest is all history. http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/1999-2000/OTHERS+ICC/U19-WC2000/SQUADS/U19-WC2000_AMERICAS-SQUAD.html
I was flown into Colombo at the beginning of January 2000. I was picked up by some guy with my name on a board, this guy was a maniac and took me on one of the most hair raising rides of my life. I was so relieved to get to my hotel in one piece. There I met the rest of my team mates. We were put in the Oberoi hotel, 5 star. The nicest hotel I had ever stayed in. We went straight
Tuk Tuks
Good fun. Best way to see the cities. to the nets for a session.
The first couple of days we had some practice matches against local provinces which we won convincingly. I batted pretty well and my bowling was straight and consistent. The heat was overwhelming, that coupled with the intense humidity was a bit insane. Our first match was vs England. We got pummeled, I scored 9 and bowled alright. The ball I got out to was an in swinging yorker, awesome ball that ripped my middle stump out the ground. Our next game was vs the West Indies, we lost. The next was vs Zimbabwe, which we lost. This was one of my most frustrating games, I was batting well when a leggie bowled a ball that was turning away from me. At the last minute I pulled my bat into my pad as to leave the ball, but as I did that my bat hit the plastic buckle of my pad and made the perfect "snick" noise. I was subsequently given out, I was so SO pissed off.
We had a rest day, and on this day whilst everyone was sitting around the hotel I payed a tuk tuk driver to take me on a
Good Pull.
Kumar Sangakarra at his best. private tour of the city. It was incredible, I saw some of the most amazing Buddhist temples I have ever seen. I did quite a bit of shopping as well.
We were then moved to Kandy, the ancient city in the mountains of Sri Lanka. Here we stayed in another incredible hotel on the longest river in Sri Lanka. My room mate was Carlos Gibson from Argentina. Such a character. He was more concerned that his hair looked good than how he was batting!! We got on really well, most of our conversations revolved around chicas. In Kandy we played against South Africa. It was such an incredibly strange feeling. The team I had always dreamed of playing for I was now playing against. I shed a tear or two when the South African national anthem was played, and it was not for me. I opened the bowling and bowled so well. I was bowling to Jacques Rudolph and Andrew Puttick. My figures were 7 overs for 34. Graeme Smith then came in and made a fifty or so. Crazy to think that I played against the NOW captain of the national team. We ended up losing farily badly. Was
to be expected I suppose. I never really got to see Kandy which was very unfortunate. Next time.
We then moved to the town of Nuwara Eliya up high in the mountains. Everywhere you drive all you see are tea fields. Sri Lanka was formerly known as Ceylon. The most famous tea producing country in the world, it was also no coincidence that Dilmah was the main sponsor of the tournament.
We stayed in this old old victorian hotel in Nuwara Eliya. Played against Ireland, biggest bunch of wankers I had ever come across. I wanted to shoot everyone one of them in the head. Seriously, they were that bad. I have since befriended some nice Irishmen which has raised my view of them a bit but not much. It was awesome though cause for the first time in my life people were asking for my autograph. I felt like a minor celeb, which I suppose I was at the time. Wherever I walked with my team, or cricket clothes on people would come up to me, or point at me.
Oh also at the time the Tamil Tigers were in full swing, the president had had 3 attempts on her life in the month preceding the world cup. And our hotel in Colombo was literally 300 meters away from her house. So where ever we went we had a military escort, and outside on the streets there were machine gun nests with these massive guns that could blow your head off from a kilometer away. The food was incredible. Really spicy, everything from the curries to the jams to the tomato sauce. Everything was spicy. But I loved it. I also found the writing very interesting, it seemed to me like a bunch of circles combined. Very crazy looking. The people were some of the poorest people I had ever come across but on the other hand some of the nicest people I had ever come in contact with. Such good good people.
All in all it was an incredible experience. I would love to return and someday I am sure I will.
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