Now, dear Lords, the way the British media saw it before the match, there was no Murali in our ranks and therefore it was just a matter of time before you won the game. Of course they chose to ignore the fact that we had won our last nine games and you chaps had lost quite a few. Why, one chap even wrote that "if Sri Lanka were to bat first, being all out for 180 shortly after lunch on the first day is a real possibility"!

But then, this is hardly surprising. It is after all twenty years since we were granted Test status and we were, until now, not good enough for a full Test series in England. Eventually it took the fact we beat you so convincingly the last time we met over there for you to give us a full home series. But we do understand, dear Lords, when you say that we are not great crowd-pullers in England. After all, who wants to pay good money to see your side beaten, and so convincingly at that?

Then, there was the last time you chaps were over here. From the day you lost the first Test, you were complaining about the umpiring so much, ignoring of course, the fact that the bad decisions went against both sides. Your media chaps did such a good job of it that the umpires were too scared to make the tough decisions in the matches that followed!

But then, you do always try to waive the rules and rule the waves like in the good old days, don't you? Remember the time when Sanath clobbered you so hard in the 1996 World Cup that your then captain, Mike someone said that the rules of the game should be changed! Well, we haven't still come to that yet but the fact remains that you chaps have yet to win the World Cup while we have done it already!

My dear Lords, why are we saying all this is because of what was done to our new bowler, calling him a "chucker". Why is it that this always happens when someone does well and not otherwise? And why is it always the media which makes the first call and not the umpires? Accident or design, my Lords?

Anyway, my Lords, our boys proved what they are really capable of, by the way they played at Lords and we are happy with that. But that really doesn't matter either because we play the game as it ought to be played. After all it was you who called it a gentleman's game though it is also you chaps who seem to keep forgetting this fact. Nevertheless, best of luck next week- you will need all of it to keep Murali out of that match!

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha.

PS- We will concede one thing, though- the adminstrators in our game are as bad as the players and the media in yours. Now, you don't have your Sports Minister deciding who should attend what meeting do you? Ah, but we do and if you don't believe that, you can bet your last pound on it!

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