Savaged by a Mutt in the newspaper was a pun with no fun for us. The CEAT points table showing Sri Lanka first with 22 points and England, India next with 18 points would be changed was the superior remark by the studio presenter, at the start of the one-day Emirates Trophy final. Well, with our two big wins the table would certainly change in a different way. Captain Stewart's crude remark to Thilekeratne was a reflection of what he is used to .
In the first innings of the Test, Atapattu was dubiously given out l.b.w. by umpire Shepherd which even the TV commentators condemned. This same umpire then blatantly said not out to Ramprakash being caught and Gough being l.b.w. This possibly prevented an innings defeat for England and may even have robbed us of victory. The positive side to this is that when we batted again, in spite of Stewart's disgraceful instructions to his bowlers to bowl bouncers and wides, which Fraser to his credit could not accept. Sanath Jayasuriya was able to show his one-day style of batting in addition to his test match style already acclaimed in the first innings. The six hit over cover off a wide bouncer with Sanath jumping high and both feet well off the ground at the point of contact was the shot of the match.
The world knows too well that Football hooliganism is associated with Englishmen. We pray that they allow cricket to remain a gentleman's game. They taught us to play it that way, and we wish they would practice it even in defeat.