Date-stamped : 18 Jan96 - 02:38 Wednesday 17, January 1996 All Lankans playing for `Murali` Sri Lanka has in recent times been torn apart by what would seem to many as an uncalled for and senseless ethnic strife. In this time of strife, where man`s inhumanity to man is being displayed, it is encouraging and pleasing to note the together- ness of all Sri Lankans at a time when the Lankan cricketers are being unfairly and unsportingly bashed about by the Aussies, especially the treatment meted out to that little spinning sensa- tion Muttiah Muralidaran. STANDING TALL Today all Sri Lankans are united and standing tall as one sup- porting the cricketers and promising to fight the good fight to clear the cricketers who are in quicksand `down under` through no fault of theirs. Muralidaran is the odd man out. Yet as it is said, in sport there is no colour, caste, religion or creed. Muralidaran`s team mates are displaying this as a shining example and are to a man with him. Muralidaran must certainly be the most lonely man on this planet. He has been tormented, tortured and banished as if he were a leper. He has been branded a `chucker`, a `thrower` for no fault of his. His only fault is that he has been born with a defect in his bowling arm. That is nature`s way of doing things. So can he be lynched for that? BY EXAMPLE While his team mates, management and the expats in Australia are all rallying round to clear Muralidaran, leading the crusade here from the front as it were and by example is Sri Lanka`s sporting Minister of Youth Affairs, Sports and Rural Development the ef- fervescent S. B. Dissanayake. With Dissanayake assuming office, sport in Sri Lanka hit it big. Cricket especially saw the first ever Test victory abroad against New Zealand. This was followed by historic Test and one-day series victories against Pakistan in Pakistan, the pocketing of the Sharjah Cup and now the entering of the WSC finals in Aus- tralia. MEDICAL EXPERT Dissanayake when he met the Aussie cricket officials, President Dennis Rogers and Graham Halbish, Chief Executive, who were here to discuss World Cup matters, expressed his concern on the Mu- ralidaran affair. Dissanayake has promised to get the best medi- cal experts to play for `Murali` and represent matters so that he can make the International Cricket Conference see reason. Every Sri Lankan here to a man is with Dissanayake because they are convinced that a great injustice has been perpetrated on Mu- ralidaran and they are out to right this wrong. MOST STRIKING What was most striking was the dedicating of the victory against the Aussies in Melbourne to Muralidaran by his team mates. Before the game they vowed that they would win that game and dedicate it to Muralidaran and this they did and in style. After the game acting skipper Aravinda de Silva joyfully revealed this to the media. It was indeed heartening and moving and would have certainly warmed the cockles of anyone`s heart. Amidst all this sniper fire the Lankans have conducted themselves with admirable and exemplary decorum. Muralidaran is certainly no blatant `chucker`. Being suspect does not mean that he is guilty. His suspect action is nature`s gift to him. He is not being a cheat, or trying to get any undue ad- vantage. He is bowling the way his creator allowed him. TRUE SPORTSMAN Let him continue to play the game, like the true sportsman that he is. What God has put together, let no man rescind. Source :: Lake House/Lanka Internet News Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)