Rohan Wijeyaratna, Island, 28 November 2018, where the title is “Playing the bigger moments better……”
When attendant scribes finally sit down to write on this English tour outside the cricket in retrospect, not much would be written complimentarily, given what happened to some members of the Barmy Army – the travelling supporters of the England team. The manner in which some were denied their pre-booked hotel rooms – thanks to some panic stricken match organisers – will feature high in what now seems an utterly ill-managed and ill-executed aspect of the tour. The stink it would earn this country will only be eclipsed by the larger stink generated through the uncouth political wrangling and totally unacceptable behaviour, never seen in the annals of any civilized society anywhere, this century. The damage in both instances would take long years to mend, and it will take a lot out of many, to offset the negative publicity the country has attracted. It would also sting an already sensitive tourist industry beyond its threshold of pain. What happened to these Barmy army men was no hiccup. But adding insult to injury, not even a cursory apology was forthcoming. Feelings were ruffled, people seriously inconvenienced, and to complete the misery, the host team was handed a complete ‘whitewash’ for their trouble. Much work will now have to be done to control the damage, but for the repair processes to begin, the country must first return back to normal. At the time of writing, normalcy seems nowhere in sight.
