‘Time heals in some respects but it’s at Christmas time when you can’t get away from it, you can’t escape it. It has been 17 years now since the Boxing Day disaster that swept through Asia ‘It was a great initiative, giving that amount of money despite the paper not sold in Sri Lanka.’ ‘I appreciate it because they (readers) don’t think, “Oh, we weren’t part of it”. ‘It’s a huge amount, it’s nearly $25m dollars!’ adds Murali. One Indonesian fishing village was paid for entirely by the readers’ money. Millions was spent on rebuilding schools, homes and providing emergency help, with £270,000 alone spent on reconstructing the washed away three-storey CWW Kannangara School. His gratefulness extends to the Mail’s Flood Aid appeal, which raised £15.92m thanks to its generous readers. They stood by me without race, religion or anything, as a Sri Lankan.’ They didn’t think about race despite the ethnic war that was going on at the time. So then I thought, “How could I help them?” When I needed help, everyone came together for me.
‘They supported me as a cricketer despite not knowing me. ‘The whole country backed me that I didn’t do anything wrong,’ he says. Muralitharan was a key figure in securing funding from other counties during the crisis His countrymen united in support of their hero, despite a civil war between the Sinhalese - who made up 80 per cent of the population - and Tamils, Murali’s community. Nationwide fury ensued and Murali was subjected to wide-ranging tests of his bowling action, which he passed in 1996. The off-spinner was no-balled seven times in three overs by umpire Darrell Hair on believing that the then 23-year-old was bending his arm, and then straightening it in his bowling delivery. Though the seeds to this mindset had been sown way before 2004 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day 1995. So through cricket, we connected everything and made a huge impact in this area.’ ‘Surrey County Cricket Club made the Surrey Village Cricket Stadium in Maggona, and MCC gave the Foundation of Goodness a centre of excellence and built a cricket ground. Shane Warne and Ian Botham came and brought awareness to the Foundation. ‘So many people from the cricket fraternity who I played with came here. I was playing with these boys for Lancashire, so they gave money to build houses as well. He says: ‘I also want to mention Neil Fairbrother and Andrew Flintoff. Murali knew more could be done through using his reputation and cricketing friends. Still David and the orthopaedic surgeons contribute to the hospitals.’ Me and David raised around $4-5m dollars for an accident ward at a Kalpitiya hospital, and a hospital in Batticaloa in the east.
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‘They did free surgeries and worked for about two weeks after the tsunami and brought equipment. ‘And then my good friend Dr David Young, a Melbourne orthopaedic surgeon who was the Sri Lanka cricket team doctor, brought over a team of surgeons from Australia. The waves battered the country and rebuilding took a long time, even with relief efforts Through them I got food machines and gave them to places that were affected.
‘I was ambassador for the World Food Programme. ‘I created awareness because of being a cricketer,’ he explains. A sport cherished among millions of Sri Lankans united Murali’s acquaintances, new and old, to come together and help spearhead the recovery. Just hours later amid mangled debris and fallen homes, his and Kushil’s thoughts focused upon the recovery.Īnd it is where cricket helped the rescue mission. ‘I saw the World Health Organisation count saying 30,000 people dead but it looked like 100,000 people who would have died as some villages were wiped away. He had saved the children and stayed in a temple thankfully, but saw people floating away from him. ‘I was trying to call Kushil but I couldn’t because all the phones were disconnected,’ he says. The survival of Kushil and children who attended the function were Murali’s main worry. Hours of panic ensued with several bodies washed up on shores across the island. If I set off 20 minutes earlier, I would also have been caught in the waves.’ When we switched on the TV, you see the effect of what has happened.
‘We lucky turned back and raced back to Colombo. I went out the car and they said, “Sea water has come to the land, don’t go that side, the Galle area”. ‘Halfway through the journey, there’s people shouting away. We thought we should go ahead before the high tide comes.
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‘It was a brown colour on a full moon day. ‘On the way, me and my family were going near Kalutara - a place you can see the water in the river which goes to a lagoon,’ he tells Sportsmail. Thousands lost their homes and entire villages were completely destroyed by the tsunami