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Cricket prevails Test match to play through Sri Lankan Buddhist festival
KANDY, Sri Lanka (AP) -- The prime minister has prevailed over influential Buddhist monks who wanted Sri Lanka and England to stop play Friday, a sacred full moon day, during their second cricket test this week. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka persuaded the monks, who yield tremendous influence in Sri Lanka, not to insist on their demand that play be stopped Friday, a national holiday in this small tropical island where Buddhism is the majority religion. The test begins Wednesday. All full moon days are sacred to Buddhists because Buddha was born on a full moon day. On every full moon day in Sri Lanka, offices are closed, butchers do not sell meat and bars do not serve alcohol. Even anglers are not allowed to catch fish. Wearing white clothes, the devout visit Buddhist shrines that dot this country of 18.6 million people. "We sought (the) honorable prime minister's help and he persuaded the revered monks to let play be held on Friday," said Chandrishan Perera, the spokesman for Sri Lankan cricket board. He would not say how the prime minister managed to make the monks drop their hard-line stand. However, it was not certain if a cultural pageant at the opening ceremony will be held as planned. Some of the monks had declined to provide elephants to take part in the show because Britain had annexed the Kandy kingdom 186 years ago. Britain had taken most parts of Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, and finally annexed Kandy, where the test will be played. Niranjan Wijeratne, the custodian of the island nation's most important Buddhist shrine, had said he will not provide elephants, dancers and drummers for the cultural extravaganza. The cultural pageant, involving elephants, traditional dancers and drummers, is meant to entertain hundreds of foreign tourists during the lunch break at the match. "We don't want to get involved in the ceremony... Our elephants, dancing troupes and drummers will not participate," said Wijeratne. The temple often lends its 13 elephants for religious and cultural pageants. The temple custodian has considerable influence among the Sinhalese, who comprise 74 percent of the population. The minority Tamils are 18 percent and Muslims 7 percent. Ranatunga denies bashing schoolchildren COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- The family of former Sri Lankan cricket captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, denied Tuesday that he had beaten up schoolchildren who went into his garden to retrieve a cricket ball. The alleged incident Friday has snowballed into controversy in this cricket crazy country. The school where the students are enrolled shut down Tuesday and 1,000 students participated in a street demonstration to demand that police take action against Ranatunga. "Do you think anyone in my family will beat up someone over a cricket ball getting into our premises," said Nandini Ranatunga, mother of Arjuna, told The Associated Press after reports emerged that Ranatunga could be arrested Wednesday when he returns to Colombo from Kenya. Arjuna Ranatunga is her second son. Two of his brothers have also played test cricket for Sri Lanka. The students reportedly involved in the incident were aged between 14-16 and were enrolled at Ashoka Viyalaya school. The students alleged that Ranatunga and some of his staff beat up three boys who had scaled a perimeter wall in search of their ball that had been hit into the garden. According to the students, Ranatunga and his security staff then went to the school and beat up three more students. Ranatunga departed Sri Lanka Friday for Kenya, where he scored a century Sunday in a charity cricket match for India's earthquake victims. "We have nothing to fear and in fact we have asked for an independent inquiry into the incident," Ranatunga's mother said. "I don't think there is any police warrant to arrest Arjuna. In fact, if he is needed, he will himself go to the police station to record his statement." Ranatunga, who captained the national to victory in the 1995 World Cup, retired from international cricket five months ago. His father, Reggie Ranatunga, is the food minister in President Chandrika Kumaratunga's cabinet. The former cricketer's mother admitted there was a scuffle between the school kids and her personal staff after one of the students abused her for not letting them into the premises to retrieve the ball. "There was an argument and there was a scuffle, but Arjuna was not present then. He came much later and was never involved in any of the things that are being alleged against him," she said. "Arjuna is not a man to become physical. Yes, he can raise his voice, but can never cause any bodily harm to anyone." Nandini Ranatunga said people had made the allegations against her son for political gain. "My son can never do anything like that," she said. Colombo police said the allegations against Ranatunga were purely speculation at this stage.
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