Professor Michael Roberts, in a letter to the editor of The Island, has raised a matter of moral philosophy with regard to the controversy over Suraj Randiv’s deliberate no ball at Dambulla this week in an attempt to denude Virender Sehwag of his century, and the role of Tillekeratne Dilshan in it. Which is worse, he asks, denying a batsman his century by deliberately bowling a no ball, or the widespread practice of making cynically false appeals? His answer to this question is not in doubt: it is the latter, as practiced by the malevolent Australians and South Africans.

No one disagrees with the proposition that the practice, not confined to the Australians or the South Africans, of making sustained …

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Photo credit: Associated Press, published in Sydney Morning Herald

Savouring the richly deserved cascades of press coverage last week of Muttiah Muralidaran’s retirement from Test cricket on the magnificent record of 800 wickets, it is difficult to resist a surge of heart-warming patriotism. It was not only the doosra-like sequence of events in the last day of the Galle Test against India – wholly implausible had it been a fictional plot – that precipitated this onrush of Sri Lankan pride in your columnist. For once, international media coverage was depicting Sri Lanka, due to the achievement of a man who epitomises the best in it, as it always …

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Some excellent goals scored, some unbearable moments of anguish celebrated as teams win and lose in an imperfect system, some stunning comebacks, terrible bouts of pain vanishing instantly once the arbitrator with a whistle awards a free kick, the tears of the Japanese, the despair of the Ghanians’, incompetent referees sent out to save face, all making a wonderful festival of sport.  All in all we have been witness to a wonderful world cup. FIFA president Sepp Blatter called it an emotional one. Emotional because we saw more than soccer in South Africa. We saw a nation healing. We witnessed what could be an answer for the modern tribalism, which is engulfing our world.

It was seen in a flag being …

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If you’re an alien planning to invade the Earth, choose July 11. Chances are that our planet will offer little or no resistance.

Today, most members of the Earth’s dominant species – the nearly 7 billion humans – will be preoccupied with 22 able-bodied men chasing a little hollow sphere. It’s only a game, really, but what a game: the whole world holds its breath as the ‘titans of kick’ clash in the FIFA World Cup Final.

Played across 10 venues in South Africa, this was much more than a sporting tournament. It’s the ultimate celebration of the world’s most popular sport, held once every four years. More popular than the Olympics, it demonstrates the sheer power of sports and …

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My family like many Sri Lankan families is cricket mad. I am the exception. When Sri Lanka played Pakistan a few days ago, my family lived and breathed cricket and it seemed like the end of the world when Sri Lanka lost. Imagine my surprise when I read the editorial of a daily newspaper that revealed that most Muslims of Sri Lanka celebrated the Pakistani win! But then again was I that surprised?

We, Muslims look like any other Sri Lankans. We speak one of the two national languages and often both. Perhaps our feast day food is different, but no different than lumprai or yellow rice. On ordinary days we eat rice and curry like anybody else. For many years …

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