Senaka Weeraratna
Give Aussies a Ticker Tape parade as a farewell gesture by driving them through the streets of Colombo (near Galle Face Green) once this popular Australian cricket tour is over.
This is exactly what the Australians did in Melbourne on February 20, 1961 when they bid goodbye to the West Indian Cricket Team led by Frank Worrell. Australia beat West Indies by 3 to 2 in a close contest which went down to the wire.
In a time of misery let us thank the Aussies for bringing smiles on to faces of our fellow Sri Lankans in more ways than one. Cricket always brings people together. This Australian tour has really caught the spirit and imagination of the cricket loving Sri Lankan public. It has helped to drown our sorrows and anxieties.
https://img1.hscicdn.com/image/upload/f_auto,t_ds_w_1280,q_80/lsci/db/PICTURES/CMS/210200/210289.jpg
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/west-indies-tour-of-australia-1960-61-61907/photo
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A NOTE from Michael Roberts, The Editor, THUPPAHI, 27 June 2022
This is an excellent idea and should be vigorously pursued.
That stressed, we must not go overboard in our historical assessments. There were moments in the cricketing encounters between the Windies and the Aussies that were fraught with tension and acrimony. And how can any Sri Lankan cricket fan of the 1990s ever forget the episodes invovling the no-balling of Muralitharan — both acts in December 1996 and January 1998 pursued by umpires at the behest of Aussie administrators and supported by chunks of Aussie fans!
Just dip into SSPerera’s Janashakthi Book of Cricket or into Roberts, Essaying Cricket, (Colombo, vijitha Yapa Publications 2006)
