SATIRE: Low-quality benches blamed for Thirimanne’s injury

Sri Lanka’s left-handed batsman Lahiru Thirimanne has left England after sustaining an injury to his lower back having warmed the benches during the two ODIs against Ireland and three ODIs against England.

It has emerged that the poor quality of the benches which Lahiru Thirimanne was asked to sit on was the primary reasons behind Thirimanne’s injury. The southpaw was dropped from the team following a poor show in the three-match test series in England.

The young Kusal Mendis replaced the talented Thirimanne at number three and has notched up two half-centuries at the all-important position. Having been forced out of the side, Thirimanne spent the entire duration of all five matches on benches, which eventually lead to a lower back injury.

When the Sri Lankan physio was contacted, he stated that “The benches have been of incredibly low quality. Strict action must be taken against the ECB for providing run-of-the-mill benches for international matches. When you know that batsman is going to warm the benches for the rest of the tour, you ought to provide him with the best ones.”

Commenting on Thirimanne’s injury Sri Lanka’s captain Angelo Mathews said that “He is one of the best players in the team. In fact, he has the best sitting-technic in the team. We wanted to increase our bench strength and that is the reason why we benched him. We know he is remarkable when it comes to sitting on benches and he was sitting extremely well on the all-important bench position. It is a great loss for a struggling team. Hopefully, next time we will get him good benches.”

The Sri Lanka Cricket Board has indicated that they have taken the issue to the match referee, but sadly the match referee too seems to be unhappy with his seating facilities.