Sri Lankans set to return home

2004-12-31 08:45

Wellington - Sri Lanka's cricketers were scheduled to leave New Zealand on Friday after the abandonment of their tour, expressing relief after days of anxiety over their tsunami-ravaged homeland.

Touring manager Brendon Kuruppu said as many as half the team now feared for the safety of relatives as the death toll from Sunday's disaster rose to 27 000.

"We have more cases every day," Kuruppu said. "So many have no news of relatives and it would make it very difficult to concentrate on cricket. The boys are so relieved to be going back. They want to be with loved ones."

New Zealand and Sri Lankan officials agreed on Thursday the tour should be abandoned to allow the players to rejoin families and participate in tsunami relief.

The Sri Lankan board had initially opposed the tour's cancellation, fearing fines and penalties.

But International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed assured Sri Lanka no penalties would be imposed and the board accepted players' pleas to be allowed return home.

"I conveyed their feelings to the board and the board has been monitoring things and finally decided it was not going to continue with the tour," Kuruppu said.

The Sri Lankan team had played only one of five scheduled one-day matches against New Zealand and was due to play two Tests in January. Efforts will be made to reschedule the tour but the busy international programs of both nations make that unlikely within the next year.

"Hopefully we can come back but we need time to spend with our families," Kuruppu said.

"The moment we get back we are going to begin fund-raising. We are going to meet the affected families and be with them because many have no shelter.

"We can't do a lot but moral support is what we can give and the ability to raise funds."

New Zealand Cricket is also likely to join the fund-raising effort. The 20-20 match which opens Australia's tour to New Zealand on February 17 may now be a benefit match for Sri Lankan tsunami victims.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden said the financial implications of the tour's cancellation were likely to be severe for both New Zealand and Sri Lanka unless it could be rescheduled within two years.

"We need to do the sums on that but obviously we are going to make a fairly significant loss as are Sri Lanka as well," he said.

"One of the ways we can mitigate that is to reschedule the series in a relatively short space of time but by that I mean inside two years."

- AP