December 15, 2002	Sunday	Shawwal 10, 1423

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COLOMBO, Dec 14: Australian authorities “harassed and humiliated” Sri Lanka’s national cricket team when they arrived in the northern city of Brisbane, a state-run newspaper said here on Saturday.

The Daily News said the Sri Lankan team was detained for two and a half hours at Brisbane airport on Wednesday while authorities went through their bags and demanded they wash their shoes before entering the country.

“The foreign ministry should take this matter up with the Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka and hold an inquiry into this rather sad state of affairs which concerns an international cricket team, who don’t deserve this type of humiliation to play

cricket in a nation ruled by convicts,” the Daily News said.

It said the “harassment” at the airport was seen by the team as a “ploy of gaining a psychological hold” over them ahead of the one-day cricket series against Australia and England, which began Friday.

However, Australia has strict quarantine laws that require scrutiny of shoes that have been in contact with dirt in foreign countries.

The newspaper quoted team manager Ajith Jayasekara as saying that the team was angry over the treatment meted out to them at the Brisbane airport.

Cricket-mad Sri Lanka receives visiting cricket teams with a red-carpet welcome usually reserved for visiting heads of state.

Earlier this month, Australia’s trans-Tasman neighbour New Zealand fined two Indian cricket players for arriving in the country with dirty shoes.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and batsman Virender Sehwag were hit with 200 NZ (100 US) dollar instant fines for their undeclared dirty footwear as the Indian team flew into the country. — AFP