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Well what do Tony Greig, Citizen Perera and every three-wheeler driver in Sri Lanka have in common? All of them know why Sri Lanka didn't win the World Cup and what the captain/selectors/coach and manager should have done to get that prize.

They know that Sanath should never have played with that injury. They know that Pushpakumara/Nuwan Zoysa/Upul Chandana/Kaluwitharana/Naveed Nawaz/Van Dort should have been in the tour party.

They all know that - well I guess we all thought - poor Mahela should not have played so many matches and of course wondered what Charitha Buddhika and Jehan Mubarak were doing in South Africa anyway.

And whether we should have gone for the run rate or why Pulasthi bowled that over or why Sanghakkara was wearing his sunglasses and so on and so forth.

This column is not intended to add to this great fund of knowledge and analysis, because unlike most of my compatriots I have not held a bat or bowled a ball seriously enough to become a cricketing pundit being strictly the armchair variety.

Instead this is about the fine print in the contract with the masses that all people in the public eye, from politicians to actors and sporting stars have.

And make no mistake about that. Our cricketers are paid much better than the best CEOs in the land, and judging from their behaviour, are as highly strung as the prima donnas of the big screen.

Anyway let's be compassionate and spare a thought as to how our cricketing heroes are feeling right now.

They must be thinking how fickle we the public are. Before they went to the World Cup we feted them and gathered in our thousands to wave flags and wish them the best. We promised them millions of rupees and showered them with praise.

We did that even though they showed that they were after money and not glory for the country.

But when they returned as losers they had to slink into the country un-felicitated and un-honoured.

There really was no-one to welcome them at Katunayake.

Heroes yesterday, zeros today.

Sad, no?

Of course our fans are not as passionate as those in India or Pakistan who take extreme measures against their cricketers such as burning them in effigy and stoning their houses, but many curses have been uttered while watching their performances. Clark Gable the former Hollywood star used to say the people - the paying public - live their fantasies through their heroes.

"But we (the stars) have to play by the rules.

If we fail, or get things wrong, then we have to cop it," he is famously quoted as saying. How true.

How many of us have lived vicariously through our cricketers.

How many of us have fantasized about slashing like Jayasuriya, driving like Atapattu, hooking like Aravinda, bamboozling the best like Murali or scything through a batting line-up like Vaas.

And when once we beat the world to be champions all of us - and we are told even the LTTE cadres deep in the Vanni - felt like one and on top of the world. But when they fail we feel robbed, defeated and so horribly depressed.

So if Sangha, or Mahela or Arnold or Pulasthi or anyone else who gets axed or shunned is feeling down and really angry at the fans they have to understand why. Our dreams ride with you and when you don't perform we get upset.

That is the fine print.

- Arjuna Ranawana.

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