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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka's cricketers were harassed and humiliated on their arrival at Brisbane airport on Wednesday night for their cricket tour of Australia.

Reports filtering from Australia reveal that immigration officials at Brisbane airport held them up for the best part of two and a half hours as they made a detailed check into every item in the baggages of each individual player and official before they were allowed in.

The players and officials had travelled via Singapore for 14 hours and were travel weary. The treatment meted out to them at the Brisbane airport was the last thing they expected, especially for a national cricket team who were visitors to that country.

When the matter was brought to the notice of an official of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) who was present at the airport to receive them, the reply they got was that it was the usual procedure.

"We know that Australia has strict quarantine regulations. But to put the national team through this ordeal was certainly not on. It's not ethical," Sri Lanka team manager Ajith Jayasekera told the 'Daily News' yesterday.

Jayasekera said the immigration authorities went through every bit of luggage and pulled everything out including bats from their covers and soiled shoes which they wanted washed before they were returned to the respective baggages.

"The players were very tired after the long journey and looking forward to some sleep. They were very angry at the delay and the stringent hardships they were subjected to by the airport authorities," said Jayasekera.

The manner in which our national cricketers were treated is in poor taste and can be looked upon as another ploy of gaining a psychological hold over them ahead of the all-important one-day cricket series against Australia and England, which began yesterday.

On previous tours to Australia, Sri Lankan teams have been accused of ball tampering, their star bowler Muttiah Muralitharan called for chucking and, and the Australian media and the public going anti-Sri Lankan, looking for the negative aspects of the touring team to spotlight.

The treatment our cricketers have received in Australia is in direct contrast to what Australian teams receive in Sri Lanka. They are accepted with open arms and garlanded and escorted like important celebrities.

"We go out of our way and try to make everything possible to ensure they experience the least possible delays at the airport when they they arrive in Sri Lanka. We are very disappointed it happened to us," said Jayasekera.

The Foreign Ministry should take this matter up with the Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka and hold an inquiry into this rather sad state of affairs which concerns an international cricket team, who don't deserve this type of humiliation to play cricket in a nation ruled by convicts.

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