The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Miraculous escape for cricketers' mothers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 04, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

Miraculous escape for cricketers' mothers

MATARA (SRI LANKA), JAN. 3. International cricketers Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Chandana said their mothers were lucky to survive after being injured in the tsunamis which have killed about 30,000 in Sri Lanka.

Jayasuriya, the former Sri Lanka captain, said on Monday that his 60-year-old mother, Breeda, was seriously injured while she was on her weekly trip to get vegetables.

``Every Sunday, she goes to the beachfront to buy fresh vegetables and she was caught in the tidal waves,'' Jayasuriya told The Associated Press. He said other family members, who also live at Matara, had escaped with minor injuries and that his home had been damaged.

Matara, about 130 kilometers south of the capital Colombo, was one of the worst affected areas in the disaster.

Leg-spinner Upul Chandana's mother was saved from the tide but still in a state of shock after seeing one of her rescuers dragged away to death by the tide.

Chandana's family lives in Galle, one of the worst hit southern towns in the island.

Nuwan Zoysa's maternal aunt and three relatives of Dilhara Fernando's wife were among the dead, the players said.

Tour called off

The Sri Lankan cricketers were in New Zealand when the tsunami struck on December 26.

The tour was abandoned after just one of the seven scheduled matches, and the players returned home on Saturday.

Most of the team members visited welfare centres and hospitals in Galle and other devastated areas on the southern coast on Sunday.

``I am shaken, I've been taken by surprise,'' said captain Marvan Atapattu.

``The whole scenario, I saw it on TV a couple of times when we were in New Zealand, but to see with our own eyes...''

Team members had been desperate to rejoin their families and help in the relief effort, but had to wait in New Zealand until Friday for a flight.

``We are glad to be with the families. We know how much of a death scare they have gone through,'' Atapattu said.

``The intention now is to be with the community and do whatever we can,'' he said, adding that Sri Lanka Cricket will launch a massive fund-raising drive on Wednesday to help those affected.

The International Cricket Council is organising two charity matches between a World XI and an Asian XI, hoping to raise millions of dollars for the disaster relief fund.

Organisers were hoping to sell 80,000 tickets for the first of the matches, on Jan. 10 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. — AP

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