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This is an archive article published on February 11, 1999

No more tours down under for Ranatunga

COLOMBO, FEB 10: Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga has said he would not play in Australia again after the `ugly and partisan' ...

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COLOMBO, FEB 10: Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga has said he would not play in Australia again after the `ugly and partisan’ treatment meted out to him by the Australian media and crowds during the on-going triangular series.

Talking to newsmen here on his return from Australia, where his team failed to qualify for the finals, Ranatunga said, “I don’t think I will go back to Australia to play cricket anyway. I don’t want to lose a couple of years of my life.”

He said the crowds in the Indian sub-continent were thousand times better than the ones he has faced in Australia.

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“Those living in glass houses should not throw stones. Australia and England, whenever they tour the sub-continent, complain about unruly crowd behaviour. But they can not see the behaviour of their own crowds. I must say the conduct of the Indian and Pakistan crowds is thousand times better than the Australian crowd,” he said.

Ranatunga said this year’s Australian tour was one of the most `troubled’ tours of his career as the Sri Lankan team had to play in a `surcharged’ atmosphere.

The Sri Lankan skipper received a six-match suspended sentence for leading his players off the field. Throughout the tour Ranatunga was targeted by the Australian crowds for his `arrogant’ behaviour and chanted `Chucker’ and ‘No ball’ whenever Muralitharan bowled against Australia and England, the skipper said yesterday.

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