Two Sri Lankan over 50’s cricketers, Suranjith Dharmasena and Mahesh De Zoysa, are left stranded in their apartments in Cape Town due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both Dharmasena and De Zoysa were part of the Sri Lankan contingent who were contesting in the Over 50’s World Cup in Cape Town. The tournament was abandoned on the 15th of March due to the outbreak of COVID-19 virus across the world, as many of the participating countries went into lockdown.
Although most of the players who participated in the tourney returned to their respective countries, there are several players still stranded in South Africa.
Dharmasena a product of Thurstan College and later played for Tamil Union was a prominent member of Sri Lanka’s over-50 team while De Zoysa, who played for Ananda College was the Assistant Manager of the team. The latter had traveled to South Africa with his wife.
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The two players were scheduled to leave South Africa on the 19th of March, the latest they could find a flight back to Colombo, but things went south as the Bandaranaike International Airport was shut down by then.
The Vice-Captain of the Sri Lankan side and former Media Manager of Sri Lanka Cricket, Shane Fernando, told The Island that the players are safe in their apartments in Cape Town.
The Over 50’s World Cup, is an elite tournament dedicated to the veterans of the game. Cricketers over 50 years of age from 12 nations participated in the tourney. The tournament was scheduled to be played from the 10th to the 26th of March 2020. Two full rounds were played before the tournament was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, half-way through the third round.
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