Relations with the leading clubs then deteriorated as Brittle frustrated demands for a greater share of the RFU’s sponsorship and TV money plus more control over their own competitions.A whiff of breakaway was in the air by May 1996 at an eight-hour emergency meeting in London, yet the mediatory role played by Hallett, scuttling from room to room with proposals, amendments and rewordings, brought the antagonists together sufficiently to produce a truce. “We then all went off on our holidays but by September we weren’t too sure what we’d agreed and the argument resurfaced,” Hallett recalled “This time the England players were used as pawns. They weren’t allowed to attend training sessions and the clubs threatened to pull them out of internationals. But the players wanted to play for England and it was a mistake for the clubs to use them in that way.

Ordinary rugby followers just got fed up with it all.”The future televising of the Five Nations was at the heart of the other serious row involving Hallett. In March 1996, BSkyB offered the RFU pounds 87.5m to screen internationals and other important matches as part of an overall five-year deal worth pounds 175m for the four home unions. “We tried to stall it because our partners wouldn’t go along with it,” he said. “But it was frustrating, as we have so many more mouths to feed in England.”This gave Brittle two gripes: that Hallett failed to notify him before last year’s AGM that England had been threatened with expulsion from the Championship; and that Hallett was prepared to let Sky screen certain matches on a pay-per-view basis.”We never received a formal expulsion order from the Five Nations,” Hallett said. “And subsequent events proved that the principle of no pay-per-view had not been conceded. That will always be anathema to me.”Brittle, aided by the successful Lions manager Fran Cotton, revived both issues during his campaign for re-election at last month’s AGM, and also called for the chief executive’s post to be advertised. Hallett argued that he had in effect been appointed as a chief executive.

In any case, his hard work was bearing fruit and he had lined up a raft of new sponsors, soon to be unveiled.But his mood changed on holiday a few weeks later “I realised the best chance of unity would be for me to go. The membership made their feelings clear at the AGM and whilst I’m sad to go with everything looking good at last, my main reason is to give the RFU a chance to settle down.”Peter Wheeler, Leicester’s chief executive, voiced the doubts of many by saying: “Hallett’s resignation gives cause for concern. He made a major contribution in keeping the game intact.”When the dust settles on Hallett’s two years in the hot seat, though, the verdict may be that Twickenham wasn’t big enough for both him and Brittle. Whether Brittle is big enough without the dignified Hallett on board remains to be seen.. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has hailed her country’s cricketers for “securing honour and prestige for Sri Lanka by your excellent and brilliant performance of breaking record after record” and the Sports Minister F B Dissanayake said the team “showed the cricket world that records can be broken with team spirit, concentration and courage along with love for the country.”

Such euphoria over Sri Lanka’s new Test record total of 952 for 6, Sanath Jayasuriya’s 340 and his record partnership of 446 with Roshan Mahanama against India last week has been typical here in Colombo. Following the resounding, largely unexpected, triumph in last year’s World Cup and several successes in one-day games since, it has given a small nation in the midst of a prolonged and bloody civil war a sense of collective pride.
Yet the feeling remains that Sri Lanka have still not been given due recognition by the rest of the cricket community. England have granted them only five one-off matches since they were elevated to Test status in 1981 and the satisfaction of their performance last week was simply heightened since it was England’s 903 for 7 that was erased.From the moment Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and a knowing smile crossed his face, it was obvious that runs would be there for the taking.

Navjot Sidhu, Tendulkar himself and Mohammad Azharuddin helped themselves to comfortable hundreds over the first two days and had the Indian captain been so minded, he could have carried on and on. But, as he pointedly observed later: “Records are meant to be broken but your focus should be to win the game. If records are broken automatically, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t ask anybody from my team to go for a particular record. We are here to win and not break records.”Yet once India compiled their 537 for 8, Sri Lanka were left with no option but to bat for a draw and, as it became apparent as Jayasuriya and Mahanama became entrenched, for records.They did so for more than two days, in humid 30-degree heat.