I was thinking we were all going to die

Mahela Jayawardene recalls his brush with death on a bullet-ridden bus in Lahore:

by Richard Earle

Having faced death on a bullet-ridden bus, Sri Lanka doyen Mahela Jayawardene is cricket's 'big picture' guy.

Then skipper of the Sri Lankan team, Jayawardene believed his gallant unit would become cricket's saddest tale during the 2009 Lahore terror attack as rockets, grenades and gun fire enveloped Sri Lanka's stranded tour bus.

Every ruthless act from Paris to Sydney's Martin Place now haunts a man who knows the outreaches of humanity where survival hinges on the whim of gun-wielding extremists.

"It is innocent people and you feel helpless, you don't know what to do, just hoping you won't get killed," 149-Test legend Jayawardene told The Sunday Mail.

"Every attack that happens, I sympathise with every one, the families. It is a sad situation to be in, just innocent bystanders."

A dozen terrorists had ambushed the Sri Lankan tour party en route to Gaddafi Stadium for the third day of the second Test against Pakistan in March, 2009.

This wasn't cricket but murder on the highway.

Slumped bodies became islands in a stream as blood wound through the carriage of a bullet ridden tour bus.

Bones were exposed and flesh shredded by relentless AK-47 rounds. Jayawardene's wife Christina would hear the carnage unfold on her husband's cell phone.

"I was calling but she just got the voicemail as the phone was busy. My phone fell and the whole attack was recorded for 30 seconds. We did listen to it afterwards to go through it. It was a very tough situation," said Jayawardene who escaped with deep bullet wounds to an ankle.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terror group had issued a decree against playing cricket in Pakistan and ambushed the Sri Lanka team bus as it passed Lahore's Liberty square with a battery of weapons.

By Jayawardene's next call home six police and two civilians were killed. Five teammates were injured including close mate Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Tharanga Paranavitana, Ajantha Mendis, Chaminda Vaas and Suranga Lakmal

Returning from the lottery of Liberty Square required a lucky ticket that Jayawardene thought he cashed as a Sri Lankan Test star travelling the world.

A different torment

"For someone to be alive and here, someone was looking after me," said Jayawardene, a vaunted big match performer forced to take charge of a personal horror movie.

"Otherwise we would have been all dead. We are very lucky. It is something you don't want to go through again or think about."The previous low point in Jayawardene's life had come years earlier when cancer claimed 16-year-old brother, Dhishal. It was a tragedy that troubled Jayawardene long after earnestly repaying medical bills that ravaged a family desperate to save a son.

Lahore signalled a different torment.

Sri Lanka's three decade civil war meant Jayawardene was no stranger to violence but the sound of guns clattering and whirl of explosives in Lahore will never leave him.

"Presidential" grade security failed to protect a bus that was rendered stationary and defenceless until a heroic driver restarted the vehicle, driving 1km to the relative safety of Gaddafi Stadium.

"I was thinking we were all going to die when the shooting started and all the commotion. We were just like sitting ducks," recalled Jayawardene, who thought Australian umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis were also doomed in a mini-van trailing the bus.

"We didn't have anyone to protect us, no assistance. We were just lying on a bus hoping we weren't going to get hit.

"I had shrapnel wounds on the ankle and other places. There were guys screaming, getting hit. People were just hoping they were not going to get hit. It wasn't pleasant.

Bad situation

"It was only when we got back to the grounds that we thought we were OK but you could still hear the shots."

Sri Lanka had toured in a bid to nourish the game in strife torn Pakistan where other teams wouldn't venture. India had abandoned a scheduled visit against its traditional foe in the aftermath of the November 2008 Mumbai terror atrocity.

Australia hadn't toured since Mark Taylor's ensemble in 1998 due to a clear and present security risk. New Zealand's 2002 visit had been aborted following a hotel bomb attack.

To represent, then lead Sri Lanka was the ultimate honour for Jayawardene, crack keeper-batsman and esteemed leadership successor Kumar Sangakkara who both exceeded 10,000 Test and one-day runs.

It's a commitment that contrasts with the pay dispute impasse that has resulted in a weak West Indies side blighting this Australian Test summer.

"Obviously it was a bad situation but we just wanted to get on the park and start playing," said Jayawardene, who steered Sri Lanka to the 2007 World Cup final against Ricky Ponting's invincible Australians in the Caribbean.

"That's what Sri Lankans are about, we just love playing cricket. It doesn't matter if we have issues with our cricket boards, we just want to play cricket for our country.

"We are very proud to have played for Sri Lanka rather than what we have done in the game."

Jayawardene hopes Pakistan can end its unsettling existence as perpetual cricket nomad but notes there's no road map home in a climate of fear.

"I do feel for the Pakistan public who have been starved of cricket for so many years," said Jayawardene.

"It will be a very courageous move if someone decides to go there but I am not an expert on security and wasn't the time when it happened. "The situation we were put in was very difficult."

The future of Test cricket and double-edged saviour that is Twenty20 seems trivial in the context of the Lahore bloodshed.

The mundane assumes a special appeal to those denied it.

"Once you go through something like Lahore it makes everything else seem ordinary," said Jayawardene, the No. 3 anchor in Sri Lanka's 2014 World Twenty20 triumph.

"I thought I would have been killed and after that I was able to go and play several World Cups including a T20 title for my country. You are blessed, very lucky to do that."

Regrettably, the threat of attack extends to the Melbourne Cricket Ground which has turned from a field of dreams to a concrete fortress this week. Terror knows no boundaries.

Jayawardene, an article of elegance through 11,814 Test runs and 34 centuries, wants cricket to endure just as Parisians refuse to be scared away from an envied café culture.

Jayawardene is a key proponent for cricket's admission to the Olympics through the T20 format which will be decided by the International Olympic Committee in 2017.

It's time to be bold.

"That would be great. Cricket is the second largest sport after soccer so why aren't we in the Olympics?" said Jayawardene, "Obviously the Olympics mean countries will have to introduce cricket and you get a lot of mileage out of that. Countries could watch and get excited about cricket."

Embracing change

Jayawardene exited the international stage after this year's 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand to spend the twilight of his career on the Twenty20 circuit.

Staging a World Twenty20 across the United States within eight years is regarded as forerunner for the game's global expansion.

Jayawardene featured in the Twenty20 All Stars series last month across the United States headlined by icons Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar.

Around 80,000 fans attended matches using drop-in pitches in baseball stadiums at New York's Citi Field, Houston's Minute Maid Park and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

"We had a great response from the crowds," said Jayawardene, who tore up his Christmas plans to answer an SOS from old Test for Jason Gillespie and front for Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League

"It's just getting the venues sorted out.

"The drop-in pitches were fantastic so they just need to get the venues to accommodate the crowds. The response we got in that short period was amazing.

"Warney and Sachin worked hard. It wasn't easy but they are keen to go across every year as there are offers".

It's a market ripe for the picking with 40 million expatriates from across the subcontinent in the land of the free.

"There's millions in America watching cricket so how we take the brand across is important," said Jayawardene, joined by former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, West Indies maestro Brian Lara and Test cricket's greatest wicket taker Muttiah Muralitharan in America.

"It's something we need to do for the game to evolve and T20 is the best format to do that. "The kids there love cricket, have their clubs and play on the weekends, are quite enthusiastic about it."

Test Cricket

While Jayawardene embraces change, he warns against tampering excessively with the game's fabric.

Day-night Test cricket should be used in appropriate markets as an ace up the sleeve of administrators.

"I watched the day-night Test in Adelaide. It was brilliant, a challenging game but I am still optimistic about red ball cricket," said Jayawardene.

"Yes, the odd game of day-night cricket is an option but not too much.

"Obviously on the subcontinent it will be a bit of a struggle because of the dew factor in the evening and after seeing how the ball behaved we need to tweak it.

"I grew up watching red ball Test Cricket and want the next generation to enjoy it as well."

The introduction of four-day Test Cricket could be gain support at next June's International Cricket Council meeting. Jayawardene insists a reduction in duration would dilute the inherent 'Test' that distinguishes it from other forms.

"Five day cricket is fine, teams are playing for results and that's where guys get tested over five days. Bowlers get tested for stamina and mental fatigue and batsman get tested over five sessions for a big score. I don't want early declarations.

"I think keep Test Cricket as it is without too much fiddling around and do anything with one-day and T20 cricket as it keeps evolving."

Jayawardene is quietly spoken but when he talks, people listen. A dark, mid-career passage left this elder-statesman respecting the fragility of life and the game he loves.

"Whatever we have done we have given everything to be better players for our country," he said. Hopefully the next generation takes it forward and does better, that's how it should be.'

- adelaidenow.com.au