Sri Lanka's traumatised cricket team will need up to 10 days to recover from the effects of a gun-and-grenade attack during their Pakistan tour, a sports medicine doctor said on Wednesday. "The boys are all suffering from trauma. But they are strong-minded. They can bounce back to play cricket within about a week to 10 days," Geethanjana Mendis, director general of the Sports Ministry medical unit, said.
Seven players and an assistant coach suffered minor injuries in Tuesday's ambush while six policemen and two civilians died. Apart from the two players needing minor surgery, the others should be able to play in 10 days, he said. Mendis, who travelled to Pakistan to assess the wounded before their return, said players kept recounting vivid images of the ambush in Lahore to each other on their chartered flight home.
"Talking helps to get over trauma," said Mendis, who added that Sri Lanka's nearly four decades of ethnic war with Tamil Tiger rebels had helped condition people's minds to deal with tragedies. Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene also said exposure to the civil war helped them react swiftly when they were ambushed.
"We've been brought up in a background of terrorist activities," Jayawardene told reporters at the international airport in Colombo on his return. "We're used to hearing, seeing these things - firing, bombings. So we ducked under our seats when the firing began. It was like a natural instinct," he said. Mendis said the players would gradually emerge from their shock as they spent time with their families.
Star batsman Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana, who were both treated in hospital in Pakistan, were to undergo minor surgery at a private medical facility in Colombo. Sri Lanka have no international commitments until the end of May when the team is due to play in the World Twenty20 championships in England, Mendis said.