08/04/2011
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BBC
Former Sri Lankan national team fast-bowler Ravindra Pushpakumara is scouting for young cricketing talent in the war-ravaged north of the country, reports the BBC's Charles Haviland.
07/22/2011
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The Island
NOTEBOOK OF A NOBODY by Shanie: As Nesiah lamented fifty years ago, the political and even many civil society leaders in our country, in contrast to Nehru, sadly keep repeating myths and legends from history that emphasise our divisiveness rather than our unity. Of our political leaders, it is only Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and R Premadasa, who did not use ethnic and religious differences to score political points; and who did not give contrasting messages on national unity depending on the audience. That is why it was refreshing to listen Kumar Sangakkara deliver the Cowdrey Memorial Lecture. His talk was basically on the story of Sri Lanka Cricket but he wove into it thoughts on how our cricket team has helped to forge national unity and why it is necessary for everyone to have a national identity, rather an ethno-nationalist or a religious identity as the primary label of identity.
07/05/2011
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Wall Street Journal
His inspirational hour-long address went into great detail about the unique history of cricket in Sri Lanka, from its introduction by Anglican missionaries at the turn of the 20th century to Sri Lanka’s glorious World Cup triumph in 1996 and subsequent problems stemming from political maneuvering by the country’s cricket administrators....
His speech clearly showed his passion for Sri Lanka and his love and respect for its people. He talked emotionally of aid relief efforts after the devastating tsunami in 2004, and how he and other players visited shelters, including ones jointly run by the government and Tamil Tiger insurgents.
03/31/2011
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AFP
Sri Lanka's appearance in Saturday's cricket World Cup final offers a rare if fleeting moment of unity for a nation that remains deeply fractured despite the end of its decades-old ethnic conflict.
03/29/2011
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BBC
People of the north have been deprived for thirty years of everything that is taken for granted in Colombo, Captain of Sri Lankan cricket team Kumar Sangakkara told the media.
03/13/2011
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The Guardian (UK)
As co-host of the current World Cup, Sri Lankans are relishing their moment on the sport's biggest stage. And no wonder. For them, cricket is much more than a game. After years of civil war, the tsunami
03/19/2010
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Reuters
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka is hoping its love of cricket, the country's most popular game, will help rehabilitate children caught up in the island's bloody civil war with Tamil Tiger separatists.