Former cricketer and television icon Tony Greig was on air when Sri Lanka won the World Cup on the 17th March 1996 and he decorated the moment with his colourful description. He glorified the brand of cricket that the Sri Lankans played. Greig certainly turned many neutral supporters towards Sri Lanka.
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With the target down to less than 40 and seven wickets in hand, Greig queried from fellow commentator Ranjit Fernando on the mood in Colombo. “What will be they doing in Colombo now? Everyone will be around the television sets and parties will be starting,” said Greig.
Then when Arjuna put a Warne full toss away by pulling it for a six to leave Sri Lanka needing less than 20 runs to win, he quipped. ‘These Sri Lankans are giving the Aussies a real hiding. They are now going to win this easy.’
‘A great century made when chips were down by a fantastic batsman and that tells the story. Aravinda de Silva has played a gem of an innings. After all those years battling it away. This is going to be the big prize for them,” he added when Aravinda completed his century.
When Arjuna scored the winning runs, Greig joined the celebrations. ‘That’s it all, the way for four. What a victory for the Sri Lankans. A fantastic effort. Their players are charging into the ground. Little Muralitharan is there too. What a year it has been for him. It will be sweet revenge for them this. They have had a pretty tough tour of Australia. They will enjoy this. They have come such a long way in such a short time. It’s only a small place Sri Lanka. What a moment for Sri Lankan cricket this is.”
“The thing that I like about these guys is that not only do they win but they win it in style. They play the sort of cricket people would want to watch,” Greig went onto say.
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Greig loved coming to Sri Lanka and local fans adored him. This love affair started with Greig’s compassion towards Sri Lankan cricket after they were battered and bruised just before the 1996 World Cup during the tour of Australia. He was the only non-Australian in Channel Nine’s commentary panel and felt that the islanders were harshly treated during the ball tampering and chucking controversies during the Perth and Melbourne Tests in 1995. Later that compassion turned to a fascination following Rumesh Kaluwitharana’s audacious stroke play during the triangular series also involving West Indies.
Greig then became a frequent visitor to the island and started promoting everything from pineapple to the beaches. He rubbed shoulders with the wealthiest and well connected in Colombo. Soon there were commercial ventures opening up for Greig from mobile companies to the Tourism Ministry signed him up as a brand ambassador.
The television segment he did for Sirasa titled ‘Tony Talks’ caught the imagination of cricket loving public. This banner that was put up during a cricket match summed up the story.
- ‘Born in South Africa
- Played for England
- Lives in Australia
- Supports Sri Lanka’.
Greig was quite influential within the cricket establishment too. John Dyson had moderate success as a Test cricketer and he had moved onto teaching after retirement when Sri Lanka Cricket asked Greig for a replacement to take over from Dav Whatmore. Greig suggested Dyson and the former opening batsman had an impressive two year stint with the national cricket team. Some Sri Lankan cricketers claim that Dyson was the best coach they had worked with.
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Sri Lanka was Greig’s last cricket assignment. He was in the island during the World T-20 in September 2012 and passed away three months later a day after the Boxing Day Test ended inside three days with Sri Lanka suffering a heavy defeat. He had lost his battle with cancer.
