AFP, Leeds :
The Sri Lanka cricket team will be making a donation of one million Sri Lankan rupees (o4,662, $6,816) in a bid to help victims of flooding on the island, it was announced Thursday.
While Angelo Mathews’s team were preparing for the first Test in England, which started on Thursday, many of their compatriots have been affected by several days’ of torrential rain and landslides back home.
At least 38 people have died in Sri Lanka weather-related disasters since the weekend and Thursday’s first day of the first Test at Headingley saw players on both sides wear black armbands as a mark of respect.
Speaking after the end of the first day’s play, Sri Lanka team spokesman Chandrishan Perera said: “The Sri Lanka team has decided given the situation in Sri Lanka that they will contribute one million rupees to the flood victims back home as a team.
“It was a decision made this (Thursday) morning between the captain (Mathews) and the rest of the side.”
