One one things

December is nice for many reasons, but one of the highlights this year was the England cricket tour. It’s been an year since our last competitive home series so I had planned to get in as many days of live cricket in between Islamabad, Delhi and beyond as possible. I had made an early miscalculation in assuming that the first test would be played in Galle - something told me that this was the case so in November itself I had booked rooms at the Zimmer in Unawatuna. Unfortunately that didn’t quite pan out as planned but we went to Una anyway - and while driving up I got a text message from a friend. “watching the game or enjoying the beach?” I replied saying that I’m on the road and asked the score. “33-5 go with the latter!” Bad form. I would have loved to be in Kandy for the game but had to settle for listening to Murali breaking the record over the phone with a friend at the ground while I was at work, and also missed the best part of the final session but squeezed home to watch Mali crash through Hoggard’s awkward defense.

SSC was a huge disappointment - Islamabad meant just 2 days of watching, the first and the last, but the wicket really didn’t match the standards that the SSC usually maintains. The result was fairly dull cricket with nothing in it for the bowlers. In those two days I just saw 2 wickets - Micheal Vaughan the victim both times. So I was really looking forward to Galle despite the threat of rain and a half baked ground. I got back from Delhi on the 20th evening and drove up to Galle with a friend early the next morning to catch day 4. The weather was fabulous all the way - the sky was blue, sun was out and the sea looked super. We reached Galle at 10 and was pleasantly surprised by the ease of parking in the large Samanal park. We had no idea which stand would be the best bet so we walked around the outside till we saw the pitch and gauged which stand would overlook the bowlers arm. The ticket prices were a rip off for test cricket - Rs. 1000 is about 10 times what you’d normally pay to watch a local test match, but that’s the effect of the Barmy Army. We had picked special “enclosure B” - which was basically a bunch of chairs lined up under a makeshift tent. It was warm, there were a million suddas around us - but the view was great, we were close to the players and the atmosphere was superb. Vaughan and Cook were batting well, the latter continuing to impress after his disastrous start in Kandy.

I watched Vaughan being dismissed for the 3rd time when he flashed outside off at the impressive Chanaka Welegedara for Maiya to hold a nice one head high. A quick aside - Welegedara was superb in the first innings, specially in nailing Colly. I haven’t seen enough consistent swing from him but he has nice zip which is encouraging. At first glance he may well be a handy successor to Chaminda Vaas - and he’s already one up on Vaasy by overtaking the latter as the Lankan with the most initials (no mean feat). So heres to many more wickets for Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanka Welegedara. As Vaughan fell the two of us yelled approval while the stand went quiet and one barmy soldier cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted “It’s not Twenty20 Micheal” But all in all England seemed to have learned following their shock 1st innings 81. As Cook punched Vaasy to the offside fence, the score ticked over to 82 and the English supporters stood in ironic applause. Despite being in the minority in our own country it was quite fun being amongst the Barmy Army - they were witty, chirpy and generous in their applause despite the disappointing efforts of their team. Around 11.15 it became extremely humid and I nervously looked over my shoulder to see clouds loom over the fabulous fort. It didn’t take long for it to erupt - 5 minutes before lunch and the heavens let loose their seams and rain fell by the bucket engulfing the stadium within minutes. The ground staff was fantastic and managed to cover the entire ground in no time - but it was too late. We hung around for 2 hours but the drizzles kept returning every time the staff tried to make some progress. It didn’t help that our makeshift tents were not exactly waterproof. On the bright side - extra beach time.

The sea at Unawatuna was, as is usual this time of year, lovely. Despite the lack of sun and the odd speck of rain, the water was warm, calm - and pleasantly empty. The only company we did have in the water was rather unwanted. I drifted into a shallow area and felt a sting on my right arm - it felt like some slimy worm like creature had made contact with my arm. I got out of the water to inspect my arm which promptly became inflamed in the immediate area of contact. This happened a couple more times to my leg, body and finally face. Staying away from the shallow parts helped and we headed back to shore after a couple of hours. Tilak suggested it was probably jelly fish stings - the pain eased shortly but there’s a pretty neat looking scar on my right bicep. Tea followed by early dinner was had at the Lucky Tuna - seafood platter, lucky tuna special fried rice and devilled calamari. Gorgeous. Rikaz came and asked how the food was and I said it was excellent as always, he grinned and gave a thumbs up, “Best food on the beach - in my opinion” Got to agree with the man. I love the music at the LT, there’s usually Jack Johnson, Marley, Dylan, Clapton, Chapman, the Eagles and so on in the early evening, followed by some Buddha Bar, Cafe Del Mar etc. after sunset. We spent several hours lying on the beach in front of the Tuna, star gazing and chatting before the drizzles drove us away to the shelter of the Roti shop for some Chocolate roti with Sisira before calling it a night.

The next morning we had breakfast at Tilak’s to follow a quick dip (and one more jellyfish sting) before setting off to get decent seats. The breeze was encouraging and helped keep the clouds moving. Arriving at the ground at 9.20 we got excellent seats in the same area as the previous day and settled down to watch Mali bound in to Bell to begin proceedings. The English started well and the one blemish was Prasanna’s costly lapse down leg off Cook. However SL was soon in the hunt as Murali produced a creeper that shot into middle and off under Bell’s defence. Finally I saw a dismissal other than Micheal Vaughan. KP was disappointing all series, and he never got going in this game either but was hanging in there keeping Cook company- but Murali seemed to have his number. KP was keen to dominate and he kept shuffling down to Murali to knock him passed mid on - Murali kept throwing it up and mid on was dropped a bit back. Pietersen smashed one to the long on fence but was then beaten in the air a couple of times, I saw Maiya move to short mid at the start of the over - he was waiting for KP to go for the on drive without reaching the pitch. Something had to give. Murali threw it in the air and KP chipped down, he didn’t reach the pitch and checked his drive but couldn’t keep it down - straight to Maiya who stayed low and flicked it in the air - breakthrough before lunch. It was a lovely dismissal bc there was a plan a-foot and I could just see it unfold in my mind before it actually happened. Game on.

And how. Colly came in - the last of the must get wickets. Just a few minutes before lunch and there was something in the air. Murali continued around the wicket and second ball to Colly was just a blur - he appeared to shuffle down the track and was beaten by what I guessed was a doosra - a flurry of activity as PJ whipped off the bails and charged down the wicket, fist in the air - 2 in 3 and this had to be our game. We were ecstatic - a few mins ago England looked like they would get to lunch just two down with a few clouds building up over the ocean. A nervy Bopara came in - more men crowded the bat - I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. We were seated around the long on area and by some chance had a great view of what happened next. Bopara edged it and Maiya dived to make a great save - Bopara instinctively took off for the single and Maiya flicked it back to his namesake in one motion, who whipped the bails off for the 2nd time in two balls. The way the boys celebrated we knew we’d got another one. Maiya ran half way around the ground and we had really pulled the rug under their feet. The Barmy army was crestfallen - the stand was dead silent except for the 2 of us screaming our heads off - 5 down, 5 to go - 2 sessions on a 5th day wicket. It was really great being so close to the players - Vaasy ambled down to Cook’s 3rd man and I showed him a fist urging them to finish it off, he nodded back. At lunch the humidity began to increase - a bad sign. I nervously looked over my shoulders as once again the clouds built up over the Fort - it was going to belt down soon.

Some English supporters had finally lost patience - a banner was seen on the Fort which was really uncalled for - “15 days of torture, thanks for nothing England.” The Barmy army tried to rally some support - bursting into song with “Micheal Vaughan my Lord, Micheal Vaughan…” ad infinitum, and better songs like Rule Britannia. Time flies when you’re at the ground - even the lunch break just whizzes past after a couple of hot dogs followed by pani kadju ice cream. The stands were still messy - at least the temporary enclosures that we were in, and of course there was no scoreboard as yet. But I was amazed at how much had been done in the last few weeks - that is of course after remaining idle for the best part of 3 years. There are rumours afloat that the ground will not be able to continue hosting matches due to some technicality associated with the Fort’s status as a heritage site - but I hope that is done away with and the Galle stadium continues to play host to fantastic test matches. One things that I didn’t do during this game was to watch the match from the Fort walls itself - there’s always next time.

Post lunch England started well - Prior and the impressive Cook stuck it out for about an hour when the heavens really couldn’t hold it any longer. Warnaweera walked around nervously as the groundstaff gathered around waiting to swarm in to cover the pitch. The stadium was surrounded by dark, menacing clouds - and finally it let rip. This storm was more intense than the previous days’ one and the staff took ages to cover the entire ground. Within 5 mins I knew that there wouldn’t be a result in the game. It was a bit pathetic to see England fans dancing in the rain as if they had deserved to save the game - but I guess they needed some comic relief. We hung around for about half an hour and decided to head off as soon as the rain eased. Given yesterday’s performance I was convinced there’d be no more play following that shower. Just as we were leaving the ground dejected, the sun quietly crept through. I stopped, looked at the sea and saw more clouds - screw it. The security at the gate offered an interval pass but I waved it off - “Aiyo yanna epa, meka api dinanawa, balanna thawa payakin patan gani” I smiled at his optimism but carried on. The sun looked even brighter as we got to my car. I was sad that we couldn’t finish off the match - and something deep inside said that they might play. It was too late now - we were halfway to Hikkaduwa and we didn’t have interval passes. The radio news feeds weren’t very helpful when all of a sudden, just one hour after we left, Brian Thomas comes on YES fm saying that the game has resumed! We almost turned back but then decided that it’ll probably be drawn anyway - but we kept the radio tuned - hoping for a win but at the same time scared that we’d have thrown away a great chance to watch a fabulous finish. The next report said that Cook had fallen - into the tail, game on! Maybe we can stop somewhere and watch the end. But a few minutes later the rains returned and within a short while the match had been washed out. I was selfishly relieved - but I knew that the rains were always around the corner. It was an unfortunate end to the series - and much like in 2004, 1-0 did not in any way reflect the nature of Sri Lanka’s dominance. My first Galle test was a thoroughly enjoyable experience - let’s hope the next one has more sunshine and less jellyfish.