NEW DELHI, 27 May 2004 — Sri Lanka’s cricket captain Marvan Atapattu yesterday warned international teams visiting Zimbabwe to expect the worst, saying his team’s recent visit to the troubled African nation was “fairly chaotic.”
“The facilities and organization were probably the worst I have experienced in my playing career,” Atapattu was quoted as saying in an interview with the sport’s leading portal ‘Wisden Cricinfo.’
“To be honest, the tour was fairly chaotic. There were a whole lot of things that kept going wrong,” he said.
“When we arrived, the hotels did not have air conditioning, and then there were problems with the water supply as well.
“We had to go without a shower until about 10 p.m. after one game, and there was no water in the toilets for an entire night.
“On the cricket side, there was no communication. When it came to things like net practice, no one took any responsibility.
“There were no net bowlers and sometimes there weren’t even any nets ready. Even the lunch during the last day of the Test match was 15 minutes late.
“One morning when we were batting, the fourth umpire, who is supposed to ask us which roller we want, used the heavy roller without asking,” Atapattu said.
Zimbabwe is in danger of being suspended from Test cricket after a revolt by the country’s top white players forced two Test matches against world champions Australia this month to be canceled. Atapattu, whose team played two Tests against a severely weakened Zimbabwe team earlier this month, wished the International Cricket Council (ICC) had stepped in earlier and stopped the matches as had happened in Australia’s case. “We should have been treated in the same way as Australia were,” the Sri Lankan captain said.
