Sunburnt Home - an Australian-Sri Lankan novel

Chapter 23: Why no black or brown cricketers in Australia?

By Sunil GOVINNAGE

It was a pleasant autumn afternoon. As requested by Malini that morning, Jayadeva was weeding in their back yard. After a while, he stopped his task and sat on a bench and watched birds sucking honey from Banksia flowers.

--If there is something free, even strange birds will come and take it!

He heard a voice coming from behind and saw Asela running towards him with a cricket bat in his hand. As he reached his father, Asela stopped suddenly, moved forward, and hit an imaginary cricket ball and mimicked that he hit a sixer by raising his hands over his head.

"That's a good shot Putha, and if you could hit like that next Saturday, you team will definitely make to the district finals."

"Yes, Dad, we have only this match to win to get into the finals! Isn't that cool?"

"Ummm, yes, that is good! Very good!"

As Asela was speaking, Jayadeva looked at the Banksia flowers again to find the flock of birds have vanished after hearing the 'thud' sound when Asela threw the bat. Jayadeva realised that birds had not only taken the honey, but half of the Banksia flower spikes that gave the cone like shape to the native floral taking the splendour away.

"What are you thinking Dad?"

"Oh, I'm bit tired! I can't bend and remove weeds any more. My back is hurting. I think I'm getting old!"

"You are not old Dad; you are only forty-six and going forty seven! Can't you remember?"

"Yes, I'm more than three time your age, Putha!"

"Oh, yes, that's true!"

"By the way, Dad, why don't we have any black fellows playing cricket for the Australian Team? Is that because we are a bit racist country?"

Jayadeva, took a deep breath and thought of an appropriate answer.

"Who told you that?"

"Dad, It's obvious, isn't it?"

"But who told you that it's due to racism?"

"Just look at the team Dad, Taylor, Waugh brothers, Warne. All of them are white fellers! So where are the Aborigines in our cricket team?"

"But look at our footy teams, and how many Aboriginal players are playing for our AFL teams?"

Jayadeva emphasised a fact mainly to avoid Asela's unanswerable question.

"Putha, you still don't know the history of Australian cricket! I think our first cricket team who went to England and won Ashes had a few Aboriginal players."

"Oh, I didn't know that. That's cool. So, if I play well, then I could probably play for WACA and then might get selected for the national team. Isn't it?"

Jayadeva took a deep breath and looked at the damaged Banksia flowers.

"Who are these Aboriginal cricketers Dad? I never heard of them."

"Oh they played sometimes ago. I think the first Aboriginal cricketer was a player called Alec Henry, and the other person's name was Eddie Gilbert."

"They are not Aboriginal names, Dad! They must be Aussies. When did they play for Australia?

"Oh it was long time, very long time ago!" Jayadeva who had read a bit about Australian cricket history didn't want Asela to know that Aleck Henry played for the Australian team in 1901, and Gilbert followed later, and he had played almost 20 Sheffield Shield matches taking 73 wickets in the 1930s, and had taken further 14 wickets off touring West Indies and South African sides at playing at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.

"I should learn to bat like Arvada, and learnt to bowl like Mural. When they visit Perth next time, would you please get their autographs for me? That would be cool!"

"No Putha, you should learn to play like an Aussie, and learn to bowl like Warne, and perhaps learnt to bat like Mark Taylor."

"I'm not a left hander, Dad! I must then learn to bat like Steve Waugh!"

"U.....mmmmm... That's not a bad idea at all. Now go and finish your home work. I have to finish this weeding before Amma comes." It is almost 4 o' clock, and I'm already tired!"

'Dad, why Mum is always out on weekends? She's not working in a hospital any more, and why has she become a real estate agent, and selling houses?"

"Oh, you have to ask her that!"

"Sue tells me that Mum never liked Medicine. Sue told me that Mum had to examine people's back sides and see all the yaki things as a doctor. But I want to be a doctor, and not a lawyer like Sue going to be. Medicine is a cool thing, Dad. You can cure people."

"Off you go, I have to finish this job, otherwise we have to pay a lot of money for a gardener to complete this job. Now go and do your studies, if you want to be a doctor!"

"Dad, I must do some batting practice. I'll go and bring my practice ball with the sock. Will you help me to tie it onto the cloth-hanger for me to practice?"

"Okay, go and bring your stuff", said Jayadeva and stretched his limbs.

*****

Jayadeva heard the sound of Asela's bat hitting the ball on the other side of the back yard, behind the kitchen, and from the frequency of hits, Jayadeva realised that Asela was practising his cricket intensively.

Jayadeva's aching body suggested that he should stop work. He gazed at the last rays of western sun, dwindling behind the old gum trees.

--Well its look like Malini is not coming home soon, and I must cook something for kids. Otherwise we will have nothing to eat tonight!

"Putha, I'm finishing now. It's time for you to bring all the cricket gear inside. It's getting cold, and I have to cook now. I'm going to have some tea. Would you like a cuppa?"

"No Dad, Aussie cricketers, don't drink tea! They drink cool stuff. Don't you see the TV ads?" Asela shouted from the other side of the back yard, and Jayadeva took a deep breath and went inside.

The dusk had started setting. Soon it would be dark. Jayadeva went inside with anxiety thinking whether Asela could continue to his chat on Australian Aboriginal cricketers.

Having had his tea, Jayadeva wondered whether to cook rice and curry or make lasagne, their famous Italian dish that he learnt to make having arrived in Australia.

Despite its foreignness, he had realised that cooking lasagne is easier than cooking rice and curry for dinner.

For a long time, during their early years in Perth, both Sunitha and Asela had believed that lasagne was one of the staple diets of Sri Lanka!

As a rhythm of a poem from Guttilaya, Jayadeva knew exactly what is needed to make lasagne by memory:

450 grams of sweet Italian sausage

450 grams of ground beef

1/2 cup of chopped onions

2 -3 cloves of chopped garlic

Then, add a can of crushed tomatoes;

a small cans of tomato sauce or paste

and 3/4 cup of water and gently stir all these into the cooking meat.

Having made the sauce, Jayadeva took long lasagne noodles from a packet and started soaking them with hot water.

"Dad, what that nice smell?" Sunitha who came into the kitchen enquired,

"Oh, lasagne again! What a life? Why not we go to Claremont and buy some take-away food. Perhaps some fires, French fries?"

"Duwa, we don't call chips, fires, okay? They are chip.

It's a North American phrase! Is that all you learnt having spent three and half-months in Canada?"

"You are a dôrk, Dad", said Sunitha and left the kitchen.

His feeling was stirred, and his heart ached and he felt as if his blood flushing through his veins at high speed car.

"Yes. I'm a real dôrk. That's why I brought you all to this strange country, and do all this slavery work and not getting a single word of appreciation. All of you are ungrateful people!"

When, Asela heard Jayadeva shouting alone in the kitchen, he rushed in and said:

"Dad, Sue has changed after her Canadian trip! Don't take her seriously! Yes, she has changed but she is a good soul."

"Yes, Putha, everyone in this house has a good soul except me!"

Jayadeva, attempted to control his feelings of sadness.

Through the kitchen windows, he saw the darkness outside growing like a dangerous fog covering the entire universe.

Glossary

AFL- The Australian Football League

WACA- Western Australian Cricket Association

Banksia - An Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants. The plants are easily recognised by their flower spikes and fruiting cones which takes and heads.

Sheffield Shield - Established in 1892- 1893, the Sheffield Shield is the premier domestic first class cricket competition in Australia

Cuppa- Australian slang for a cup of tea or coffee

Guttilaya - A Sinhala, narrative poem written in the 15th century based on a Buddhist Jathaka story by a Sinhalese monk, named Vetteve.

Dork (dôrk)-. Slang. A stupid, inept, or foolish person.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

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