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| Tuesday, 3 September 2002 |
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Murali appearance puts Jaffna into a spin by Anuruddha Lokuhpuarachchi JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Monday (Reuters) - Thousands of cricket-starved fans flocked to see demon spinner Muttiah Muralitharan on Sunday in an exhibition match in Sri Lanka's war-torn Jaffna peninsula. An estimated 15,000 people gathered at a field by a college partly destroyed by bombs to cheer on Muralitharan, a Tamil who is one of the most popular people in the country. The exhibition, put on by an insurance company to mark the opening of an office in Jaffna city, was the biggest sporting event in Jaffna since before the island's war started in 1983. The crowd cheered Muralitharan's every move, from when he stepped onto the field, through the three runs he scored, to the leisurely bowling spell in which he took no wickets. A political officer from the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) even went on to the field to shake his hand before the start of the match, which Muralitharan's team won by 14 runs. The LTTE have been allowed to set up political offices in Jaffna under a ceasefire agreement signed in February. Muralitharan avoids getting involved in the island's ethnic dispute, in which the LTTE have been fighting for a separate state in the north and east. The minority Tamil community accuses the Sinhalese-led government of discrimination. But he did tell reporters that along with most Sri Lankans he was happy the Tigers and government were beginning peace talks in two weeks in neutral Thailand. "We have to wait and see. At the moment it all looks good. The success of it depends on the political decisions the leaders make," he said. The son of a wealthy confectioner from the central hill town of Kandy, Muralitharan last visited Jaffna as a child in 1981. Muralitharan, the world's best bowler according to the latest ratings, has taken 430 test wickets. He spent a day travelling to Jaffna on the A-9 highway, which opened earlier this year as part of the confidence-building measures between Tigers and government. At one checkpoint a group of blushing women LTTE soldiers rushed over to Muralitharan's vehicle. So many people wanted to meet him that authorities had to keep checkpoints open past their closing times to allow him through. Cricket is immensely popular in Sri Lanka, and the country's win in 1996 World Cup was one of the few events that united the whole island. |
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