Former Sri Lanka cricketer Kumar Sangakkara has shared snippets of behind-the-scenes of his famous MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture.

Expressing the Oxford Union in London in February, Sangakkara revealed that initially he had declined the offer but had later been persuaded to present it.

Sangakkara said he decided to speak about the spirit of cricket as he saw growing up in Sri Lanka and how that affected him and those around him, which he said was a personal perspective.

“I only finished writing the ending of the speech half an hour before I was meant to leave to deliver the lecture and the real inspiration to deliver it well was the half a bottle of sake I had during lunch getting ready for the event,” he shared jokingly.

Sangakkara added that the true inspiration for the speech was the people he knew from his childhood to that point in time, and his perspective on how he represented Sri Lanka and was able to get to know those people.