It's not cricket

For a moment this morning, I was very excited. When I looked out of the window, visibility was poor and it appeared we may have the blizzard I've been praying for. However, once the old eyes started to focus properly, it became clear that what we had was just fog, and the work day would have to happen as normal. I felt robbed, but once I continued my morning routine by checking the news headlines online, my weather-orientated displeasure was quickly put into perspective.

The headline 'Gunmen shoot Sri Lankan cricketers' seemed so surreal as to be untrue, but when one read on, the reality of the situation became all too apparent; click here to read a particularly graphic account of events from one of the Sri Lankan players, Kumar Sangakkara. Those that continually argue that politics and sport shouldn't mix have always been wasting their time, but when sportsmen are caught up in the type of atrocities that were inflicted today, we are suddenly on a whole new level. Sport hasn't been affected in such a manner since Munich in 1972, and whilst terrorism seems to tighten its unforgiving grip on the world almost daily, it has always seemed that sport was untouchable in this respect.

Sadly, I doubt this is the case any more. As most of you who are reading this will know, cricket has always been a huge part of my life, so these events resonate all the more with me. It deeply saddens me that my sport has been sullied in such a way, and whilst every sympathy is obviously with the families of those involved, I only hope that the game itself has not been mortally wounded as well.