BE AN ENGLAND FAN? YOU MUST BE BARMY

the Barmy army? they must be. What person of sound mind would stand for being treated as appallingly as england’s cricket fans? to begin with, daily prices for tourists in sri Lanka were set at £50 per ticket, when the locals pay £1.41. then, the one-day section of the tour was scheduled in the rainy season, meaning six of the first seven games were weather affected. now, supporters have been placed in a catch-22 position by the combined incompetence of the sri Lankan cricket Board and the earl’s regency hotel in Pallekele, venue of the second test. the board claim to have booked 80 of the 104 rooms at the earl’s regency for the test, which begins on november 14. Both teams and their support staff wish to be accommodated there. Maybe they failed to pay a deposit, though, because the hotel double-booked with many of the travelling fans’ groups and are refusing to honour the board’s arrangements. at the moment, england have a contingency reservation two hours away, with talk of coming in by helicopter. For obvious reasons, this is considered highly unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, the board are meeting representatives of tour groups in an attempt to persuade them to switch their clients to inferior locations, with the promise of hospitality at the match. the threat is that if the earl’s regency does not become available, the test may be moved to colombo anyway. so here’s the choice. decamp to lesser accommodation, or stay where you are and we’ll move the cricket to a ground four hours away. it is appalling and contemptuous treatment, made worse by the fact the ecB do so little to mediate. it is often bemoaned that test crowds are poor these days. if the experience of england’s fans in sri Lanka is anything to go by, it is a miracle anyone is there at all.