Murali, McCallum and Kiwi Sportsmanship...

The bizzare run out incident involving Murali and Brendon McCallum seems to be the talking point among cricketing circles these days. Well what’s the deal?

It was indeed quite silly of Murali, but it is well known that while his brain works overtime while bowling, he somehow manages to leave his brain in the dressing room when he comes out to bat.

Nonetheless Mahela shouldn't be grumbling about Murali's runout causing heartache and may be the loss of the game. He should be more worried about the performance of his top order batsmen including himself. Leaving aside Sangakkara and perhaps Jayasuriya who was unlucky to be run out, the rest of the batting was as dismal as it could possibly get. Given the situation of the match Murali being there perhaps would have added around 20 runs more which wouldn't have been enough to win the game.

Meanwhile it would have been great for cricket if Stephen Fleming could have ignored the runout and let Sri Lanka bat on. He however preferred to work according to the letter of the law. The New Zealanders are self proclaimed pundits of the spirit of the game as they so vocifourously cried out against the famous underarm over bowled against them - a product of the Chappell brothers brains trust, who were by the way working according to the letter of the law.

Alas, everybody embraces the spirit of the game or the rules of the game only when it is convenient to them...

Well one test match is gone, lost through a bad decision at the toss, bad batting and on the button bowling by the Kiwis. You cannot however ignore Sangakkara's innings which was a masterpiece. He has been a pillar of consistency for the SL side and his batting has been streets ahead of the rest in aelian conditions. He has batted well in all parts of the world - South Africa, Australia, England, West Indies, Pakistan. His technique and temperamant set him apart as the best Sri Lankan batsman in the current side. He could possibly be described as the best Sri Lankan batsman since Aravinda De Silva. Unfotunately some of his great innings have been when SL have been on the losing side. His maiden ODI century made against Australia, his gallant 138 not out against India, a fantastic 98 against South Africa at the Centurion are some of his monumental innings which have gone unrewarded.

Also to our boys credit, they bowled and fielded like demons. To have the Kiwi batsmen in tangles in their home conditions is no easy task, and our bowlers powered by the two experienced war horses Murali and Vaas, rose to the occassion. Murali was denied an easy chance of getting five consecutive ten fors by our batsmen. He proved that he is easily the best bowler the world has ever seen, by picking up 7 wickets without a fuss on a grassy Crist Church pitch.

Well Mahela has made a tough call by signalling intentions of vengeance for the Murali runout by beating the Kiwis in the second test. If he is to walk the talk, his batsmen will need bat like international test batsmen. Lets hope our boys play their hearts out in the next game. We all would love to have roasted Kiwi for dinner at the end of the next test...

Do the People matter?

Do you honestly know what it feels like to be treated like a terrorist? Well if you don't, look no further... the opportunity is not far away. Make your way to Galle Road in Colpity between the Colpity junction and Galle face, where ladies, gentlemen, fruits, flowers, the young, the old, cats and dogs are all alike treated like terrorists.

In order for your experience to be a truly complete one, come during the morning rush hour (around 9 - 10) or during the evening rush hour (around 5.30 - 6.30). You will experience the whole works which include verbal and physical abuse and much more...

I'm one of the unfortunate ones who's work place happens to be located between these said landmarks and thus suffer the torture everyday.

When his Excellency decides to make his way from his residence in Fort to his office at the Temple Trees, a bustling section of Colombo is brought to a complete hault. Traffic is stopped from both ends. No vehicles. No pedestrians. People and traffic have to stand still, on some occassions for even more than an hour... and when I stay stand still..I mean very still... If your behind a barricade, you cannot walk from one end of the barricade to the other. If you do you run the risk of receiving a tirade of insults or possibly even bullets from the nearest armed guard.

Those closer to Galle Face are the worst affected. Everyone is pushed inside the Galle Face Court, barricades thrown across all openings and an armed army officer will stand right in front of you. There have been occassions when people are all placed against the wall as well.
A girl working in an office adjoining ours had been walking through the Galle Face Court, when suddenly, His excellency had been passing by. The girl was physically handled by an army officer and pushed against the wall, much to her dismay. The girl ended up in tears and certainly took awhile to overcome the shock.

If His excellency's arrival is sudden, then all passing cars are hauled to a side, which is followed by police and army officers yanking open the vehicle doors and pulling out the occupents while offering a healthy dose of insults and foul language.

It is nauseating to see one man's pomp become such a curse to a people.

Will it end? I think not...

Craters In Colombo

Streets in Colombo are falling apart, and more high profile damage could be on the way. This is a mamoth hole at Layards Road, Colombo 05 where the road has simply caved in.

Residents in the area say that this road started caving in early October. The ever so efficient CMC have done sweet nothing to date...and are sitting on their corrupt rear ends, watching this hole grow to massive proportions.

There have been a couple of other caving in of roads reported in Colombo and suburbs, but this by far is the worst.

I wonder what the CMC's plan is.... maybe their looking to put this hole to use later... perhaps as an army bunker, a fish pond, swimming pool or may be even a mass grave...

Welcome all...

This is something I've been wanting to do for awhile.... and I've finally got down to it.

I've created my own blog!!!

You will soon be treated to or tormented by my petty eccentricities.

Your participation is most welcome and appreciated at all times.

Your views, thoughts, wishes, insults and curses will be this asylum's daily bread....