Sri Lanka’s cricket players are reportedly fearing for their security, as they prepare to tour England later this month, after far right riots flared across the UK this week.
"Most of the issues seem not to be close to where we are but everyone is still a little concerned," one player who is already in England told ESPNcricinfo.
Sri Lanka’s cricket players are reportedly fearing for their security, as they prepare to tour England later this month, after far right riots flared across the UK this week.
"Most of the issues seem not to be close to where we are but everyone is still a little concerned," one player who is already in England told ESPNcricinfo.
"We can't really go out to dinner or do anything like that. Mostly we stay in the hotel. No one wants to run into trouble and get beaten up."
"We've asked the board to try and ask for some security for us until the main team arrives, but we haven't heard anything back yet."
Sri Lanka's team manager Mahinda Halangoda however said that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has reassured Colombo that adequate security arrangements are in place.
"I raised the issue with them, but the ECB responded very quickly and sent us their comprehensive security arrangements," Halangoda said. "We'll be having a security liaison on the tour from them as well."
Whilst the issue of security has been raised by players, it remains unclear if any have spoken out on race issues in the UK or back on their home island.
In 2021, as Black Lives Matter protests swept across the globe, Sri Lanka Cricket doubled down on a directive issued to players not to ‘take the knee’ in support of the anti-racist movement, despite several other sports team routinely making the gesture.
Sri Lanka’s cricket captain Dasun Shanaka reportedly said, “We’re not hoping to take any special stance because in Sri Lanka we live in harmony and as a team also, we have a strong bond amongst each other”.
The island has been marred by racism for decades, including a genocide which has seen tens of thousands of Tamils killed by the Sri Lankan government and an ongoing military occupation of the Tamil North-East.
A controversial tour
Sri Lanka are set to play three Tests in England; on August 21 in Manchester, August 29 at Lord's, and then September 6 at The Oval.
The team will be headed by former cricketer and ex-parliamentarian with the Rajapaksa clan, Sanath Jayasuriya, who has been appointed as the interim coach.
Jayasuriya is a controversial figure, having aligned himself with war criminals and himself served a two-year ban from cricket-related activity by the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit, after he failed to co-operate in a corruption investigation.
He was also previously a member of parliament representing the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), under then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa. A year later, aged 41, he rejoined the Sri Lankan cricket team, a move slammed as a “selfish and an overtly political act”.
Previous Sri Lankan cricket tours of England have seen protests and boycott campaigns, calling on the British government to ensure Sri Lanka is boycotted from international sport until human rights concerns have been addressed.
