Joe Root thanked a fan who waited in Sri Lanka for nearly a year to watch the team play, after England won the first Test of the series in Galle.
Rob Lewis, a web designer from Sunbury-on-Thames, first flew out to Sri Lanka on March 13 last year – and found out while he was on the plane that England’s tour had been called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He stayed in the country however, and almost a year later was able to watch live as England beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets.
With no fans allowed into the ground, Mr Lewis became “almost a beacon for everyone at home” said Root, who afterwards spoke on the phone with the super fan.
Mr Lewis told the PA news agency: “I think I said something like ‘I’ll be honest with you Joe, it wasn’t too much of a chore staying here in Sri Lanka for 10 months. Congrats on your double ton, thanks for saluting me, it meant the world.’
“He saluted the balcony then he turned to me, so that was pretty nuts because a lot of the time you feel a bit lonely and isolated up there and not even sure if they can hear you sing songs. Just for the one little acknowledgement, it made it all worthwhile.
“Joe Root clapped me at the end, which was great, then for him to come over at the end and give me a personal phone call was just amazing.
“Then less than 15 minutes after that Aggers called me on TMS – I think that’s cricket peaked to be honest. I was on cloud nine. I sat on the fort afterwards just having a few beers on my own – I didn’t really want to leave, I didn’t want the Test to be over.
“It was amazing, I had to drag myself away.”
Root said on the phone: “Rob? Hello mate how are you? It was nice to see you finally up on the fort.”
“That’s why I wanted to come over, on behalf of all the lads we really appreciate your support and it’s an incredible story and journey that you’ve been on.
“More than anything I just wanted to say a massive thank you, we really appreciate you being here and making the effort to come down and support us. It’s nice for us to be able to celebrate together a win here in Sri Lanka.”
Mr Lewis had been shooed away by police after watching the first few balls of the game from a fort overlooking the stadium on the first day of the Test, but was allowed back later and appeared to have been able to watch his team clinch victory from the same spot.
“It’s an incredible story. I read about it a little while back now. To see him struggle to get on the fort the first couple of days, then finally up there enjoying himself and getting to watch some cricket was fantastic,” said Root.
“He was almost a beacon for everyone at home watching on the screens. We are very lucky to get the support we do everywhere in the world. It was nice that at the end of the game I managed to have a little conversation with him over the phone.
“It was lovely for him to enjoy that moment with the rest of the group.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here