CricInfo Home
News Home

NEWS FOCUS
Rsa in Pak
NZ in India
Zim in Aus

Domestic
Other Series

The potential violence that faces Sri Lanka ahead and after its December 5 parliamentary elections is of little worry to the West Indies team.

Captain Carl Hooper, manager Ricky Skerritt and the rest of the squad were in an upbeat mood ahead of their departure for the Asian country yesterday.

While speaking to reporters at the Grantley Adams International Airport, Hooper said the whole situation should hopefully have no effect on the team.

The minute the decision was taken for the tour to go on, we as professionals have had to focus straight on the cricket, the West Indies captain said.

If we start worrying about what is happening off the field with the politics in Sri Lanka, it would be a wrong note to start the tour on. We are totally focussed and committed to playing good cricket in Sri Lanka. What's happening off the field will take care of itself.

Last July, there was a Tamil Tigers attack on Colombo Airport that destroyed several aircraft and killed 30 people, while there was a blast on the outskirts of the capital two days ago that killed a suicide bomber from the Tamil Tigers, a policeman and injured 17 others.

In light of safety concerns, West Indies Cricket Board president Reverend Wes Hall was given assurances over security from goverment and cricket officials in Sri Lanka at an International Cricket Council meet in Malaysia less than two weeks ago.

Skerritt, who met with top officials in Sri Lanka's Ministry of National Security before the announcement of the date for general elections, said security was not a big issue for the team.

What they tell me in Sri Lanka is that this is very local political party versus political party and it gets heated up close to the election, he said.

We don't expect to experience any of it or very little of it. If we find that the security arrangements are not to our satisfaction, we are going to try to get it improved and if we can't get it improved, we'll have to take other steps.

Skerritt tried to play down the issue by pointing to political violence that affected Jamaica while the team was in camp in Kingston as well as the staging of a Test match in Guyana earlier this year, a week ahead of elections.

None of us felt the effects of it because none of us is involved in politics, he said.

When asked if he was disturbed by Monday's reports in Colombo, the West Indies manager said: Any news about death and violence is perturbing. I'm not trying to cast any aspersions. Unfortunately, these have become far too common in too many cities, but cricketers tend to get very protected from that reality. We don't have any reason to get involved or close to it. But we will be vigilant and we will continue to make sure that everything possible is done to give us the best possible security.

Squad: Carl Hooper (captain), Ridley Jacobs (vice- captain), Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Wavell Hinds, Leon Garrick, Neil McGarrell, Dinanath Ramnarine, Colin Stuart, Mervyn Dillon, Marlon Black, Reon King, Pedro Collins.Ricky Skerritt (manager), Roger Harper (coach), Ronald Rogers (sports therapist).

© The Barbados Nation