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GALLE, Sri Lanka — Cricket has come as a welcome distraction for Sri Lankans having to spend days in long queues to buy everyday items such as fuel and cooking gas. The cricket-crazed South Asian island nation is facing its worst economic crisis in recent memory and enduring acute shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Theekshana Nethumaksila is trying to study for public exams but his preparations have been disrupted because schools have been shut down. So he went to Galle last week to watch Sri Lanka take on Australia in a test match. The 16-year-old says: "We only have cricket in times of sadness. We come here to watch cricket to get it off our minds."
