Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Late Lakshman Kadirgamar`s (A Tamil national assassinated by Tamil Tigers)
His after dinner speech OFF THE CUFF, in the UK, with Sri Lankan Cricketers being present.
This was at the World Cup of 2003 in England.)
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`Captain Atapattu and members of the Sri Lankan team, Members of the Sri Lankan community, Friends of Sri Lanka, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Some historians say, I think uncharitably, that cricket is really a diabolical political strategy, disguised as a game, in fact a substitute for War, invented by the ingenious British to confuse the natives by encouraging them to fight each other instead of their imperial rulers.
The world is divided into two camps - those who revel in the intricacies of cricket and those who are totally baffled by it, who cannot figure out why a group of energetic young men should spend days, often in the hot sun or bitter cold, chasing a ball across an open field, hitting it from time to time with a stick - all to the rapturous applause of thousands, now millions, of ecstatic spectators across the world. The game has developed a mystical language of its own that further bewilders those who are already befuddled by its complexities.
In the course of my travels I have a hard time explaining to the non-cricketing world - in America, China, Europe and Russia - that a `googly` is not an Indian sweetmeat that a `square cut` is not a choice selection of prime beef that a `cover drive` is not a secluded part of the garden that a `bouncer` is not a muscular janitor at a night club, that a `yorker` is not some exotic cocktail mixed in Yorkshire or that a `leg-break` is not a sinister manoeuvre designed to cripple your opponent`s limbs below the waist.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me see whether politics and cricket have anything in common. Both are games. Politicians and cricketers are superficially similar, and yet very different. Both groups are wooed by the cruel public who embrace them today and reject them tomorrow.
Cricketers work hard politicians only pretend to do so. Cricketers are disciplined discipline is a word unknown to most politicians in any language. Cricketers risk their own limbs in the heat of honourable play, politicians encourage others to risk their limbs in pursuit of fruitless causes while they remain secure in the safety of their pavilions. Cricketers deserve the rewards they get the people get the politicians they deserve. Cricketers retire young politicians go on for ever. Cricketers unite the country politicians divide it. Cricketers accept the umpire`s verdict even if they disagree with it politicians who disagree with an umpire usually get him transferred. Cricketers stick to their team through victory and defeat, politicians in a losing team cross over and join the winning team. Clearly, cricketers are the better breed.
Some historians say, I think uncharitably, that cricket is really a diabolical political strategy, disguised as a game, in fact a substitute for War, invented by the ingenious British to confuse the natives by encouraging them to fight each other instead of their imperial rulers.
The world is divided into two camps - those who revel in the intricacies of cricket and those who are totally baffled by it, who cannot figure out why a group of energetic young men should spend days, often in the hot sun or bitter cold, chasing a ball across an open field, hitting it from time to time with a stick - all to the rapturous applause of thousands, now millions, of ecstatic spectators across the world. The game has developed a mystical language of its own that further bewilders those who are already befuddled by its complexities.
In the course of my travels I have a hard time explaining to the non-cricketing world - in America, China, Europe and Russia - that a `googly` is not an Indian sweetmeat that a `square cut` is not a choice selection of prime beef that a `cover drive` is not a secluded part of the garden that a `bouncer` is not a muscular janitor at a night club, that a `yorker` is not some exotic cocktail mixed in Yorkshire or that a `leg-break` is not a sinister manoeuvre designed to cripple your opponent`s limbs below the waist.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me see whether politics and cricket have anything in common. Both are games. Politicians and cricketers are superficially similar, and yet very different. Both groups are wooed by the cruel public who embrace them today and reject them tomorrow.
Cricketers work hard politicians only pretend to do so. Cricketers are disciplined discipline is a word unknown to most politicians in any language. Cricketers risk their own limbs in the heat of honourable play, politicians encourage others to risk their limbs in pursuit of fruitless causes while they remain secure in the safety of their pavilions. Cricketers deserve the rewards they get the people get the politicians they deserve. Cricketers retire young politicians go on for ever. Cricketers unite the country politicians divide it. Cricketers accept the umpire`s verdict even if they disagree with it politicians who disagree with an umpire usually get him transferred. Cricketers stick to their team through victory and defeat, politicians in a losing team cross over and join the winning team. Clearly, cricketers are the better breed.
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