"Our cricket embodied everything in our lives, our laughter and tears, our hospitality, our generosity, our music, our 食物 and drink. It was normality and hope and inspiration in a war-ravaged island. In it was our culture and heritage, enriched 由 our myriad ethnicities and religions. In it we were untouched, at least for a while, 由 petty politics and division. It is indeed a pity that life is not cricket. If it were, we would not have seen the festering wounds of an ignorant war." -- Kumar Sangakkara, 2011 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture
• • •
It was a speech of Churchill in its power, King in its eloquence, Ali in its defiance. It was about cricket and country. War and wickets. The man who delivered it was on a tour against England but still managed to scribble together an hourlong rumination and articulate it as though he were a member of the United Nations. He was actually a left-handed hitting wicketkeeper from Sri Lanka with a 56.73 run average in test cricket. Kumar Sangakkara is one of cricket's pre-eminent players and spokesmen, the winner of three International Cricket Council awards in 2012, including Cricketer of the Year.
"Sangakkara is undoubtedly one of the greatest captains Sri Lanka has ever produced," 说 Jaliya Wickramasuriya, Sri Lanka's ambassador to the United States. "He is also a very intelligent and committed person and an excellent role model for young Sri Lankans."
He's also a renaissance man, a lawyer in training, with a gift for the cover drive who's been described as a "tough-talking, sharp-thinking, ball-bashing man with a plan." That plan also involves changing his country and the world.
As Sri Lanka continues to host the ICC World Twenty20, the country itself is still recovering from a 25-plus-year civil war that ended in 2009 and nearly tore it apart. For many Americans, the bloody ethnic conflict that arose from tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority in the northeast part of country was something we probably heard only on the periphery, perhaps from the lyrics of singer M.I.A. 或者 novels like "Anil's Ghost" 由 Michael Ondaatje, 作者 of "The English Patient." The war claimed 更多 than an estimated 70,000 lives, according to the BBC, in acts of horror ranging from suicide bombings to assassinations. Each side has been accused 由 the U.N. of war crimes against civilians. Few have been 更多 vocal, outspoken and honest about the war and its atrocities as Sangakkara has, for it's been with him since he was born.
• • •
It was a speech of Churchill in its power, King in its eloquence, Ali in its defiance. It was about cricket and country. War and wickets. The man who delivered it was on a tour against England but still managed to scribble together an hourlong rumination and articulate it as though he were a member of the United Nations. He was actually a left-handed hitting wicketkeeper from Sri Lanka with a 56.73 run average in test cricket. Kumar Sangakkara is one of cricket's pre-eminent players and spokesmen, the winner of three International Cricket Council awards in 2012, including Cricketer of the Year.
"Sangakkara is undoubtedly one of the greatest captains Sri Lanka has ever produced," 说 Jaliya Wickramasuriya, Sri Lanka's ambassador to the United States. "He is also a very intelligent and committed person and an excellent role model for young Sri Lankans."
He's also a renaissance man, a lawyer in training, with a gift for the cover drive who's been described as a "tough-talking, sharp-thinking, ball-bashing man with a plan." That plan also involves changing his country and the world.
As Sri Lanka continues to host the ICC World Twenty20, the country itself is still recovering from a 25-plus-year civil war that ended in 2009 and nearly tore it apart. For many Americans, the bloody ethnic conflict that arose from tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority in the northeast part of country was something we probably heard only on the periphery, perhaps from the lyrics of singer M.I.A. 或者 novels like "Anil's Ghost" 由 Michael Ondaatje, 作者 of "The English Patient." The war claimed 更多 than an estimated 70,000 lives, according to the BBC, in acts of horror ranging from suicide bombings to assassinations. Each side has been accused 由 the U.N. of war crimes against civilians. Few have been 更多 vocal, outspoken and honest about the war and its atrocities as Sangakkara has, for it's been with him since he was born.
The injured wicketkeeper-batsman was the headline act in the Harmony in Cricket clinic, held at Monash University’s Clayton campus today.
Sangakkara, 35, joined Melbourne Stars big bash league spinner Clive Rose for a one-hour clinic, teaching children the skills of the game that has made him famous across the world for 更多 than a decade.
Sangakkara, a gifted left-handed batsman, has been ruled out for the remainder of the Australian cricket summer after fracturing his left hand during the Boxing 日 Test.