By Leonard Ratnayake
Sri Lanka’s disappointing start to the ICC cricket world cup tournament at Cardiff in Wales losing against New Zealand by 10 wickets came so much to the disillusionment of the participating crowd, who made miles to flock together to support the national cricketers.
Batting only 30 overs against New Zealand, Sri Lanka batsmen scored only 136 runs, which was given away by their bowlers effortlessly in 16 overs. Only Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunarathna made an unbeaten 52 runs becoming the second player to carry his bat throughout the innings in a world cup tournament.
In reply to a question in a media conference as to what he had got to say to their cricket fans, Sri Lankan captain apologized to all who come a long way to Cardiff to support his team acknowledging that it was a below-par performance by the whole team.
“We have to come to play good cricket here, but today’s performance was much below-par for our team’s potential. We will look into our mistakes well and would want to bounce back in the next matches to come” said skipper Karunaratne.
He further said that although the Caridiff’s grassy pitch was difficult for batting, it was the lack of mental strength and focus of his batsmen that made them give away their wickets easily. “It was very tough to play on that wicket early on, but it was a matter of getting your mindset right to concentrate and avoid playing harsh shots for the tough deliveries” explained Karunaratne.
Making the words count in his public apology to the crowd, Sri Lankan skipper was seen spending nearly one hour with the supporter signing autographs and talking to them personally to regret on their poor performances in the match.
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