September 21 Saturday 2002
Buchanan to coach youth in Jaffna

COLOMBO: Australian coach John Buchanan will take time off from his team's ICC Champions Trophy schedule to coach youngsters in Sri Lanka's war-torn northern Jaffna peninsula.

Buchanan, whose side has reached the semifinals of the 12-team event, was to join his deputy Tim Neilson to hold coaching sessions on Friday for Jaffna's under-18 side and other school children.

"We see this visit as an opportunity to help promote the development of cricket in Jaffna, which has been isolated from national competition in recent years as a result of Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict," said a statement from the Australian High Commission, which has organised the trip.

The Jaffna peninsula had for the last two decades been cut off from the rest of the country because of a bloody ethnic conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. The situation has improved following a recent ceasefire agreement between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which led to peace talks held this week.

Earlier this month, thousands of cricket-starved fans flocked to see Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan when he made a rare trip to Jaffna town to play an exhibition match. Over 15,000 people gathered at a field by a college partly destroyed by bombs to cheer on Muralitharan, a Tamil who is one of the most popular people in the country.