පර සුද්දෝ vs පර සිංහලයා !

ක්‍රිකට් ලෝක කුසලානේ වෙලාවෙත් " පර සුද්දෝ " කියලා සුද්දන්ට බනින්න තරම් අපි අමන ජාතියක් වෙලා.

සුද්දෝ ආවේ අපේ රටවල් වල තියෙන සම්පත් අරන් ගිහින් පොහොසත් වෙන්න කියන එක රහසක් නෙමෙයි.

ඒ උන් ආදරේ උන්ගේ රටට නිසා.

අපේ රට හදන්න කියලා ආපු රටට ආදරේ කියලා කියන අපේ කට්ටිය මොකද කලේ?

උන් ඉස්සරා දනින් වැටිලා රස්සාවල්, වරප්‍රසාධ ඉල්ලන අය ඇයි " පර සිංහලයා " කියලා මුන්ට නොබනින්නේ ඇයි?

මේකට උත්තරය හොයා ගත්ත දවසක අපි දිනුම්.

නැත්නම් එක්කෝ පර සුද්දෝ කිය කිය දිගටම උන්ටම බැන බැන එහේන්ම කකා බිබී ඉදන්, මැච් එක දවසට විතරක් ලංකා කොඩ් වනමු.

නැත්නම් සුද්දා ගෙන් ලැබෙන ආධාර එකෙන් කකා බිබී 2500 ට වැඩි ඉතිහාසය ගැන ලොකු කතා දෙමු.

තිරණය තියෙන්නේ පර සුද්දා ගාව නෙමෙයි, අපි ගාව.

Missing Gentlemen in Gentlemen's Game

When we were in primary level, an extraordinary thing happened while watching a cricket match between Alma Mater and St Benedict’s College and it was played on the home soil.

One batsman was given out by the umpire and it was a time when there were no reviews and re-appeals sort of things.

So he had to leave.

But after he left, the team Captain had a chat with the other team members and with the consent of the officiating umpires decided to recall the batsman who was given out as the team felt that the catch was not taken cleanly.

The Captain walked into the visitor’s den and invited him to come back and have a go again.

This drama took little time and the match was held and not many were aware of what was going on in the middle of the ground.

When the captain and the opposite side player were walking back to the pitch from the pavilion only many realized, what had really happened and there was a dying and disappointing moan from many corners of the ground.

The guy who had a second life took the opportunity well and started hitting the ball all over the ground and one huge six ended up, one bounce into the garden of the former MP for Moratuwa, Mr Ruskin Fernando.

His Cavalier fashion of batting ended again in the same fashion but taken cleanly this time after reaching the century mark.

He walked back to the pavilion happy and not dejected like the previous occasion, after shaking hands with the entire team and the officiating umpires.

After watching the World Cup match between Sri Lanka and the West Indies, I could not help thinking about where the Gentlemen in this gentlemen’s game are now.

Technically speaking, that runout is all legitimate but Isuru Udana should be ashamed of trying to take the credit for it and Dimuth Karunaratna for not letting the batsman continue by revoking the initial decision.

It was the Sportsmanship lost there and not the West Indies.

I was thinking, we should have more Ray Fernandos’(Captain of my Alma Mata) among us today.