England captain Joe Root has sent a letter of apology to the travelling supporters whose bookings at the Earl’s Regency hotel in Kandy were cancelled at the last minute to accommodate the teams ahead of the Second Test against Sri Lanka.
Around 100 England fans were turfed out of the resort, which is a 15-minute drive from Pallekele Stadium, after Sri Lanka Cricket, who as the host board are responsible for arranging accommodation for both sets of players, failed to book rooms before they were taken up by visiting tour groups.
The mistake led to threats from the home board that the Test could be relocated to Colombo, which only abated when the Sri Lankan government stepped in 11 days before the start of the match to officially requisition rooms for the teams. That forced the majority of affected fans to relocate to Dambulla — a four-hour round trip from Pallekele — as most other hotels in Kandy were fully booked.
Supporters have received several sweeteners from the Sri Lankan authorities for their inconvenience, including a complimentary fruit platter and bottle of wine on arrival at their new accommodation, free return travel to the ground each day, plus free lunches and alcoholic drinks at the venue.
Privately, tour groups are furious at their treatment, but are reluctant to speak out publicly for fear of reprisals ahead of next week’s final Test in Colombo and England’s return to the country for a two-Test series in 2020.
England are keenly aware of the inconvenience caused to their followers and tried to compensate them further by getting the XI in this match to pose for a group photo with the affected fans at lunch on the second day. Each also received a personally addressed letter from Root.
“It has been a huge disappointment to us that your plans for the Kandy Test match have been badly disrupted,” Root wrote. “It was a big surprise to us to hear of Cricket Sri Lanka’s booking issue. I can assure you that ECB has made its views clear. I promise that we will do all we can to give you a performance to remember.”
