I wrote yesterday about my astonishment at the huge crowds that were attending the cricket matches between Australia and Sri Lanka despite the devastating economic crisis in Sri Lanka that has resulted in a chaotic and tragic situation with massive shortages that has brought the country to a halt.

After the final game of the five one-day matches, the local crowd gave the visiting Australian team rousing expressions of gratitude for coming despite the problems . Many wore yellow shirts, the color of the Australian team, carried banners saying “Thank you Australia”, and chanted “Australia! Australia!” as the visitors took a lap of honor around the stadium.

I have rarely seen such a display of affection for a visiting team by home team fans. One that comes to mind is back in 1961 when half a million people turned out in Melbourne to give Frank Worrell’s visiting West Indian team a ticker tape parade. I hope there is more of this.

Outstanding scenes at the R. Premadasa Stadium as the Australian team takes a lap of honour thanking the Sri Lanka Cricket fans crowd as they chant “Thank You Australia💛” #SLvAus pic.twitter.com/IPT04lSlPM #LKA #SriLanka #YellowFriday #thankyouaustralia 💛

— Sri Lanka Tweet 🇱🇰 💉 (@SriLankaTweet) June 24, 2022

Australian player Glenn Maxwell expressed his surprise and appreciation.

Sri Lankan people are the world’s most extraordinarily wonderful people 💛 https://t.co/nTUk9VpEx4

— Sam Tugwell (@samtugwell_15) June 25, 2022