da prosport bet： Former Sri Lankan Test cricketer, Roshan Mahanama, blasted the Australianmedia for blowing the “Glen McGrath incident” out of proportion at thelaunch of his autobiography “Retired Hurt” yesterday at the BandaranaiakeMemorial International
Rex Clementine01-Aug-2001Former Sri Lankan Test cricketer, Roshan Mahanama, blasted the Australianmedia for blowing the “Glen McGrath incident” out of proportion at thelaunch of his autobiography “Retired Hurt” yesterday at the BandaranaiakeMemorial International Conference Hall in Colombo.In his autobiography “Retired Hurt”, Mahanama criticizes the Australiancricketers for the amount of sledging they do during play and refers to aparticular incident where Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath calls SanathJayasuriya a “Black Monkey”.However, Mahanama feels this was yet another incident of that tour and hefeels that the Aussie media blew the incident out of proportion after hementioned it on his autobiography.”I went to Melbourne to launch the book peacefully. But the Australian mediawere there with lot of cameras and focused on the Glenn McGrath incident. It’s sad. This is just one line in the book, which has 235 pages. They havetaken this out of proportion and there were threats by McGrath to take legalaction,” said a disappointed Mahanama.McGrath denies calling Jayasuriya a “black monkey” while Mahanama sticks tohis allegation. On the person of Glenn McGrath he further says, “Glenn is agreat bowler. But that doesn’t allow him to say whatever he wants to theother players”He’s also critical of the then Australian skipper Mark Taylor and thepresent captain Steve Waugh, who suggested that Mahanama’s comments were apublicity stunt.”If I wanted publicity I would have gone with the story to a publisher muchearlier. This is just a remark in the book,” he said.On this particular incident, the former CEO of the Australian Cricket Board,Malcolm Speed had questioned Mahanama as to how he knew about the incidentsince he didn’t play in that particular game,”Even if I had played the match, I wouldn’t have been in the middle when theincident occurred,” points out Mahanama. ” After getting out Sanath came tothe dressing room and told us on Glenn’s remark. That’s how I came to knowabout it”To prove his point, at the book launch Mahanama played some video clips ofthe 1996 World Series where it’s seen McGrath standing in Jayasuriya’s waywhile the batsman was looking for a run. The video footage also showsMcGrath using foul language at the Sri Lankan opener. It also goes onto showthe umpire, Steve Randol pointing the incident to the Aussie captain MarkTaylor.The book, which was initially launched at Melbourne, Australia, was launchedin Sri Lanka yesterday with the Sinhalese and the English versions. Theminister of sports Lakshman Kiriella was the chief Guest at the occasion.Cricketers of Sri Lankan, Indian and New Zealand teams, Internationalcricket commentators, members of parliament, cricket administrators, pastcricketers, foreign ambassadors and lots of Mahanama’s fans and familymembers participated.The book starts from Sri Lanka’s World Cup victory and goes onto speaks ofhis reasons to quit the game. He also deals at length on Australian tour of1995-1996, calling it the “the most controversial tour in my career.”