Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins said that what he has witnessed in Sri Lanka during the current cricket tour has really hit them.

“We are so lucky to come here and experience Sri Lanka pretty normally to how we would experience it. I was on a call yesterday and was chatting to some young girl cricketers. They’re down to one meal a day and are going to school a couple of days a week because the teachers can’t get to school,” Cummins told Sri Lanka and Australian journalists covering the Test series in Galle. 

“They’re from a fishing village and a lot of them can’t go out to fish because they have no petrol. We are certainly seeing the effects. Even in the buses we are seeing the queues kilometres long around petrol stations. That has really hit home for us.”

“No matter what the result is, we are in a really privileged position and there are lots of people that are making this happen for us to have a bit of fun and go out and play cricket. So, we are really lucky. That fifth ODI I have never seen anything like it. I am not sure in Australia we have ever given that much support to a travelling team. We’ve been following it closely. It is something we spoke about in our team meetings as well.” (ST)

We are up to the task, says Aussie skipper Pat Cummins

Shane Warne commemoration ceremony