The coach of the South African women’s cricket team, Stephen Jones, and former East London schoolboy cricketer, Martin Walters, had a narrow escape from death in Galle in Sri Lanka onSunday.
Jones, who coaches the famous English school Harrow during the off-season, was on a tour of Sri Lanka with the school.
Walters, formerly at Selborne College in East London but now at Harrow, was part of the team.
The players were just about to start play at the Galle Test ground in a match between Harrow and a local Sri Lankan school team when the tidal wave struck.
The Galle ground where South Africa played a Test match earlier this year, is famous for the walled fort which overlooks the playing area.
When the wave struck Jones calmly led the schoolboys to the roof of the main stadium as the water began to rise.
The water eventually reached a height of one metre below the roof with the cricketers and spectators all trapped until the waters subsided some hours later.
According to Walters, cars and buses were simply swept away by the force of the wave and eventually only the roof of the stadium and the top of the fort were visible amid a sea of water.
One of the Harrow boys, Spencer Crawley, lost his father in the incident.
He was swept away by the water while driving to the stadium while Crawley’s mother was seriously injured but safe.
Walters said that all he and his teammates had left were the clothes they were dressed in as all their belongings, including their passports, had been lost in the raging torrent at the seaside bungalows which they had booked into over the weekend.
One of Walters’ Harrow teammates is of Sri Lankan royalty and Walters and the rest of the team were taken to the palace late Sunday where they spent the night.
As a player Jones represented Western Province and Boland and he has coached in Namibia as well as the Border team.
Walters, who completed matric at Selborne College in 2003, continued his schooling at Harrow this year where he played a major role in the school’s first cricket X1 and first hockey team.
Jones and Walters are expected back in South Africa Tuesday.
Walters will link up with his parents in Cape Town where they are on vacation. – Sapa