The NJS News
The Official Newspaper of Nixonstown Junior School: Issue 43
Shan-dal: CW Colts player in language row
By Sam Ward
Just two months after the mobile phone incident involving Nixonstown Junior's Lewis Mitchell and CW Black star Neil Pickup, cricket and controversy have come back to our school. After a grade friendly match between the Nixonstown Foxes and Gofftown Tigers, Matthew Lyle, a Class 4A pupil at NJS, asked Tigers wicketkeeper Shan Jasotharan for an autograph.
This seems a perfectly fine thing for an eight-year-old cricket fan to do, but instead of being greeted with a smile and a signature, all Matthew received was a swear word and a shove. Matthew, shocked by the experience, told the NJS News, 'I'd never heard anyone use a word like that before, my dad was really really angry but Jasotharan just told him the same. He said that he was a better batsman and bowler and keeper than my dad would ever be so he didn't have to listen. Then he got into his car and drove away. I was really upset because I used to like Jasotharan because he hits the ball hard."
The way that Jasotharan reacted to the boy is in huge contrast to the way that Neil Pickup handled his own unfortunate accident, which readers may remember involved a mobile phone and a window. It also contrasts with the reaction of Gofftown skipper Brendon Goff, who was happy to sign Matthew's autograph book and also insisted that the rest of the Tigers team signed a shirt for him.
Jasotharan would not speak to the NJS News when we asked him to talk to us, and there's been no comment from either the Colts management, or new CWXI coach Pratyush Agarwal. With Agarwal new to his job, a situation like this is surely not what he wanted to be greeted with - and may yet be the first Test of his reign, long before any cricket is played.
samuel.ward@njs.sch.cw
Next week in the NJS News: U11 Football - CWLand National Knockout Second Round: Nixonstown v St Anglia's