What goes on tour
Rob flew to Sri Lanka to see England cricket & when series was cancelled he stayed put
SPINNER Rob as DJ Randy Caddick
A CRICKET nut is still in Sri Lanka eight months after England’s tour was cancelled, and has vowed to stay until Joe Root’s team returns.
Web designer Rob Lewis, 37, has adopted a dog and become a DJ during his unplanned stay on the island.
He hopes captain Joe Root’s team will return in January so he can finally see the tour – and has offered his services to Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur as a water boy so he can get into the ground.
He said. “If they don’t come then it’s been a long wait for nothing. Let’s just stay positive and hope they come... or the quest will fail and corona will win.”
Rob, from Sunbury- on-Thames, Surrey, was on the plane to Sri Lanka on March 13 when England’s matches were cancelled because of Covid-19. He checked into a hostel near Hiriketiya beach, east of
Galle, when he arrived.
“It’s normally a really popular tourist beach and it was deserted,” he said.
“I was so fortunate – reports from back home, all my
family are stuck in their houses, very hard lockdown, so I was pretty lucky.”
While there, he also made a new friend, a beach dog he called Pup, who has since been rehomed. Rob said: “The hostel owner didn’t really like me because he didn’t want the dog there.”
After a couple of months of lockdown, Rob said Sri Lanka opened up “pretty fast and life went back to normal”.
He decided to stay and met a DJ who taught him how to operate the decks and he then picked up occasional work at bars and parties. He said: “I’ve managed to get a few gigs in Colombo.”
He now DJs under the name Randy Caddick – a nod to a former England bowler. “If I do well, I’m going to have a highlight reel of An Andy Caddick playing behind me while I DJ.” D
A friend introduced introd him to coach Mickey, who loved his story. “He just laughed at my idiocy,” idi said Rob. If England do d tour, there is the small matter of whether Rob will be allowed into the ground. But he said: “I’ve of offered my services to be like the Sri Lankan water boy so I can get g in the bubble.”