An Afternoon on the Beach

Cricket is more than just a sport here in Sri Lanka. Almost every boy in school is an avid cricketer and when it comes to talking about test matches or their favourite players, there are almost no language barriers anymore. Therefore, we thought it may be worthwhile to arrange a little game of cricket on the beach.

It was more than successful. Especially considering that most of the boys never had any formal training sessions, their standard is very high. Some of them are just highly talented when it comes to any kind of sport; training would certainly be beneficial, some of these boys could even have a shot at becoming professional athletes. Yet there is a mountain of obstacles that has to be overcome. At the moment, there are neither sports coaches nor training facilities around, so they have to cope with make-do equipment and play on the beach or in the street.

For this afternoon, however, all of this was forgotten. The boys did not want to stop playing, even when it became dark and almost impossible to see the ball, and there will certainly be another cricket session soon.