Charles Haviland Colombo

UNICEF Cricket camp in post war Kabul. Cricket became a popular sport after war in Afghanistan

It says it wants to identify players for the national squads in a range of games, taken from the mainly Tamil north.

Close to the town of Mullaitivu, the Tamil Tigers were vanquished by the Sri Lankan military in May 2009.

Off limits

Now, the town is hosting sports camps. The heavily patrolled north is virtually off-limits to outside journalists.

But the sports ministry says that over the past two days about a thousand schoolchildren attended a talent identification camp for more than 10 sports including football, athletics, boxing, volleyball – and, of course, cricket.

Cricket played with a leather ball, rather than a soft one, is being introduced into five local schools for the first time since the decades-long war.

We hope to see more Muralitharans being born from these areas Sports minister

Few Tamils in the top game

Leather balls are used at the top-most level of the game but using them is more expensive.

The sports minister said, “We hope to see more Muralitharans being born from these areas” – a reference to the recently retired spin-bowler, Sri Lanka’s most famous player.

He was one of the very few Tamils at the top of the game. But a former national player, Ravindra Pushpakumara, is now working as a coach in the north and told the BBC that he is impressed by the “wealth of talent” in the mainly Tamil province.

He’s already brought 30 young players to the capital to help their skills flourish