Legendary England all-rounder Ian Botham (2L) visits the Foundation of Goodness sports complex in Seenigama, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Colombo. Botham said Wednesday he was moved by the progress of post-tsunami rebuilding in Sri Lanka, as he visited a sports project he has backed.
©AFP - Ishara S.Kodikara

SEENIGAMA, Sri Lanka (AFP) - Legendary English all-rounder Ian Botham said Wednesday he was moved by the progress of post-tsunami rebuilding in Sri Lanka, as he visited a sports project he has backed.

"Coming back has been heart-warming and very, very emotional," Botham, 54, said to hundreds of excited school children who greeted him on his third visit to the Indian Ocean island since 2005.

Botham toured the sports complex in Seenigama, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Colombo, where money from the Laureus Sports Foundation has promoted cricket, swimming and volleyball.

"The Seenigama project now involves girls and boys taking part in inter-village sports leagues with matches and training sessions," Botham said at the site, which was destroyed in the December 2004 tsunami.

The disaster killed an estimated 31,000 people in Sri Lanka.

Legendary England all-rounder Ian Botham (R), seen here during his visit to the Foundation of Goodness sports complex in Seenigama, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Colombo. Botham said Wednesday he was moved by the progress of post-tsunami rebuilding in Sri Lanka, as he visited a sports project he has backed.
©AFP - Ishara S.Kodikara

"Sport as we know can foster togetherness and team spirit, and today, coming back, I have seen for myself the fruit of those endeavours," said one of England's greatest players.

In early 2005, Botham was one of the first high-profile cricketers to travel to the worst-affected areas in the southern part of the island to assess the damage and raise awareness.

"Nothing prepared me for what I saw there," he said.

"In 2003, when I was covering cricket for Sky TV, I stayed at a house just along the beach from Galle -- it wasn't there any more.

"The fishermen, the market stalls along the road, the other houses on the coast, they had all gone. The cricket ground looked like the surface of the moon."