Kumar Sangakkara received a standing ovation for his stirring and eloquent speech at Lord’s, which focused in the main on the history of cricket in his native Sri Lanka.
Of direct interest and relevance to the readers of I4S and SMT Online, though, is the fact that Sangakkara touched upon issues including the 2009 terrorist attacks against the Sri Lanka team, governance of the game within his homeland – including comments on the political power struggles that he suggests bedevil the sport – and the passion with which it’s followed by people long blighted due to the spectre of civil war.
The one-time Sri Lankan skipper was the first person from his country to give the annual lecture, and also the first current international player to make the address.
In addition, the 33-year-old specialist batsman also succeeds former Australian wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist as the youngest man to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture.
The Lahore Attack in focus
This is what Sangakkara had to say about the Lahore attack…
!I was fortunate that during my life I never experienced violence in Sri Lanka first hand. There have been so many bomb explosions over the years but I was never in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“In Colombo, apart from these occasional bombs, life was relatively normal. People had the luxury of being physically detached from the war. Children went to school, people went to work and I played my cricket.”
“In other parts of the country, though, people were putting their lives in harm’s way every day either in the defence of their motherland or just trying to survive the geographical circumstances that made them inhabit a war zone.”
“For them, avoiding bullets, shells, mines and grenades was imperative for survival. This was an experience that I could not relate to. I had great sympathy and compassion for them, but had no real experience with which I could draw parallels.”
“That was until we toured Pakistan in 2009. We set-off to play two Tests in Karachi and Lahore. The first Test was played on a featherbed wicket and passed by without great incident.”
The second Test was also meandering along with us piling up a big first innings when we departed for the ground on Day Three. Having been asked to leave early instead of waiting for the Pakistan bus, we were anticipating a day of hard toil for the bowlers.”
Team bus fired upon
“At the back of the bus the fast bowlers were loud in their complaints. I remember Thilan Thushara being particularly vocal, complaining that his back was near breaking point. He joked that he wished a bomb would go off so we could all leave Lahore and go back home.”
“Not thirty seconds had passed when we heard what sounded like fire crackers going off. Suddenly a shout came from the front: ‘Get down they are shooting at the bus.'”
“The reaction was immediate. Everyone dived for cover and took shelter on the aisle or behind the seats. With very little space, we were all lying on top of each other.”
“Then the bullets started to hit. It was like rain on a tin roof. The bus was at a standstill, an easy target for the gunmen.”
“As bullets started bursting through the bus all we could do was stay still and quiet, hoping and praying to avoid death or injury.”
“Suddenly Mahela, who sits at the back of the bus, shouts saying he thinks he has been hit in the shin. I am lying next to Tilan. He groans in pain as a bullet hits him in the back of his thigh.”
“As I turn my head to look at him I feel something whizz past my ear and a bullet thuds into the side of the seat, the exact spot where my head had been a few seconds earlier.”
“I feel something hit my shoulder and it goes numb. I know I had been hit, but I was just relieved and praying I was not going to be hit in the head.”
“Tharanga Paranvithana, on his debut tour, is also next to me. He stands up, bullets flying all around him, shouting “I have been hit” as he holds his blood-soaked chest. He collapsed onto his seat, apparently unconscious.”
“I see him and I think: “Oh my God, you were out first ball, run out the next innings and now you have been shot. What a terrible first tour.”
Clarity of thought under stress
“It is strange how clear your thinking is. I did not see my life flash by. There was no insane panic. There was absolute clarity and awareness of what was happening at that moment.”
“I hear the bus roar in to life and start to move. Dilshan is screaming at the driver: “Drive…Drive”. We speed up, swerve and are finally inside the safety of the stadium.”
“There is a rush to get off the bus. Tharanga Paranawithana stands up. He is still bleeding and has a bullet lodged lightly in his sternum, the body of the bus tempering its velocity enough to be stopped by the bone.”
“Tilan is helped off the bus. In the dressing room there is a mixture of emotions: anger, relief, joy. Players and coaching staff are being examined by paramedics. Tilan and Paranavithana are taken by ambulance to the hospital.”
“We all sit in the dressing room and talk. Talk about what happened. Within minutes there is laughter and the jokes have started to flow. We have for the first time been a target of violence. We had survived.”
“We all realised that what some of our fellow Sri Lankans experienced every day for nearly 30 years. There was a new respect and awe for their courage and selflessness.”
Taking a turn for the worse
In his polemic, 33-year-old Sangakkara forcefully argued that Sri Lanka’s 1996 Cricket World Cup success was hugely significant for national unity, but that the sensational victory over Australia marked the turning point when Sri Lankan cricket perhaps started to drift a little.
“After 1996, the Cricket Board [of Sir Lanka] has been controlled and administered by a handful of well-meaning individuals either personally or by proxy rotated in and out depending on appointment or election,” said Sangakkar.
“Unfortunately, to consolidate and perpetuate their power they opened the door of the administration to partisan cronies that would lead to corruption and wanton waste of Cricket Board finances and resources.”
He added: “It was and still is confusing. Accusations of vote buying and rigging, player interference due to lobbying from each side and even violence at the AGMs, including the brandishing of weapons and ugly fist fights, have characterised Cricket Board elections for as long as I can remember.”
MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture: the background
The MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture was inaugurated in 2001 in memory of the late Lord Cowdrey of Tonbridge, a past president of the MCC who – together with another former club president, Ted Dexter – was instrumental in the Spirit of Cricket being included as the preamble to the 2000 Code of the Laws of Cricket.
The Cowdrey Lecture has been delivered by many eminent figures from across the world of cricket, from legendary Australian Richie Benaud through to Christopher Martin-Jenkins and one of the West Indies’ favourite sons, Clive Lloyd.
In 2008, the MCC invited The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu to deliver the Lecture, which he duly did to an audience of over 1,000 in the MCC Indoor Cricket School. He focused on the role that the sporting boycott of South Africa played in ending apartheid and the need for cricket’s notions of fairness, honesty and decency to apply to political sporting decisions.
Other subjects over the years have included umpires’ use of technology, the possibility of four-day Test Matches and cricketers’ behaviour.
Irrespective of nationality, cricketing background or age, all Spirit of Cricket lecturers have been united in their reverence for the founding tenets of the Spirit of Cricket: fairness, honesty and respect.
To read Kumar Sangakkara’s excellent speech in full, and to watch edited highlights, access the dedicated web links provided at the foot of this page
