LEFT ARM OVER
NEIL MANTHORP: Sport says it will all turn out okay as bombs explode
History suggests that sport plays a popular role in returning society to normality, writes Neil Manthorp
Until a few days ago, it was reasonably simple for the world’s best cricketers to concur with the philosophy that "infected" human beings should not allow their "disease" to alter or adversely affect our "normal and natural way of life". That was because, despite the unimaginable savagery of the suicide bomb attack at a concert predominantly for teenagers in Manchester, there was a distance, physical and emotional, between cricket’s superstars at the Champions Trophy and the bleak reality of bombs, death and bereavement. Then came the London attack just a few kilometres from where SA’s opening match against Sri Lanka had finished three hours earlier and close to the England squad’s hotel at Tower Bridge. Ben Stokes and a few other squad members were having dinner in Leicester Square when the attack occurred and had to leave their cars within the cordoned-off zone and walk back to the hotel. Everyone on the streets within the vicinity felt vulnerable that night and all-rounder Stokes...
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