Tour of  Sri Lanka 1996            Captain:  Alistair Campbell

Zimbabwe’s fourth Test tour

First Test-playing tour of  Sri Lanka by Zimbabwe

(August - September 1996)

In June 1996 John Hampshire's contract as Zimbabwe`s national cricket coach was terminated.  Zimbabwe’s poor showing in the 1996 Wills World Cup brought to an end his four-year stint, although the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) had not yet decided on his successor. He was eventually replaced by Dave Houghton, who was to take the joint responsibility of player-coach.

Australia turned down an offer to play a Test series in Sri Lanka before the four-nation Singer one-day tournament due to the security situation, so the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka turned to Zimbabwe.  They were unable to come before the Singer World Series because leading  players were already contracted to play in league cricket in England. Further, because of the short space of time before they would be undertaking a three-Test tour to Pakistan in October, it had to be for just two Tests with no side games involved.  The Zimbabwe Cricket Union requested to play all their matches in Colombo for security reasons.

Andy Flower, who had borne the triple burden of captain, wicket-keeper and leading batsman, resigned the captaincy when his form began to suffer after the World Cup.  Alistair Campbell was appointed to lead the tour of Sri Lanka, just before his 24th birthday.  Unfortunately, he found himself up against Sri Lanka’s formidable captain Arjuna Ranatunga and suffered Zimbabwe's two worst defeats to date. Campbell said: “We were totally underprepared for this tour and we did not have any warm-up games before the Test matches but that's not really an excuse."

Campbell and Olonga were swept out to sea while swimming and had to be rescued by lifeguards.

Other Zimbabwe tours

Previous tour

New Zealand 1995-96

Next tour

Pakistan 1996-97

Next tour of Sri Lanka

1997-98

Members of the tour party  (15)

Opening batsmen :Alistair Campbell, Grant Flower

Middle order batsmen:  Mark Dekker, Craig Evans, Guy Whittall, Craig Wishart, Ali Shah

Wicket-keeper:Andy Flower, Wayne James

Fast bowlers  Eddo Brandes, Henry Olonga, Heath Streak, Bryan Strang.

Spin bowlers: Andy Whittall,  Paul Strang.

District representation

Msh  Mashonaland (8)

Mat  Matabeleland (7)

CD  Country Districts (0)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(11 September 1996)

  26 yrs  5 m

ODI:  Member of the squad for  one-day internationals.

Key to type:

RHB Right-handed bat

RM  Right arm medium-paced bowler

RFM  Right-arm fast medium

OB   Off break

WK  Wicket-keeper

Test Appearances made before the tour

Campbell 16,  A Flower 16,  G Flower 16,  Streak 12,  G Whittall 12,  Dekker 9,  Brandes 8,  P Strang 7,  B Strang 5,  James 4,  Olonga 2,  Shah 2,  Wishart 2,  Evans 0,   A Whittall 0.

Tour Officials

Zimbabwe were without a full-time coach in the absence of Houghton so the original choice as manager, Malcolm Jarvis, took that role.

Selectors

John Traicos (convenor), ………

Selection

Unavailable:  Dave Houghton.  He missed his first Test matches for Zimbabwe because the two in Sri Lanka coincided with his coaching duties at Worcestershire at the end of the English county season in 1996.  

Eddo Brandes was expected to be unavailable through injury at first.

On 3 July 1996 Andy Flower resigned the captaincy.  Owing to Dave Houghton's unavailability until the home series against England, Andy Waller, another experienced player, was expected to be appointed as caretaker captain, but the ZCU asked Alistair Campbell to take on the responsibility. Waller was again unavailable for business reasons (his farm in Centenary)

Tour Party Announced   13 August 1996.

Ali Shah (Omarshah) returned to the side after nearly four years out of Test cricket. Two other ‘veterans’ were called up: Dekker and James.

Two players would join the touring group after the one-day internationals: Andy Whittall, cousin of Guy, was picked on his record playing for Cambridge University and had not yet appeared in a first-class match in Zimbabwe, but he arrived in time to play in the third ODI.

Mbangwa and Charlie Lock ???

Time between selection and departure from Zimbabwe  

      6 days

(13 August  -  19 August)

Travel

Harare   Q Colombo

The team left Harare on Monday 19 August and arrived in the early hours of 21 August  1996.  Later that day they had fielding practice at Premadasa Stadium, and next day played a club side

Andy Flower played in a warm-up match for the World XI on 24 August.

Time spent in Sri Lanka

   x days

(21 August -  23? September)

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

Eddo Brandes had to return urgently to his poultry farm in Ruwa arriving home on approx 5 September. There was no replacement and the team got by with the remaining 14 players.

Fixtures/Results

RPS  R Premadasa Stadium;   SSC   Sinhalese Sports Club

§  ODI  matches (Singer World Series Cup)

ϯ not first-class

.

Time spent in Sri Lanka before First Test:

      21 days

(21 August  -   11 September)

Test appearances on tour

2  -  Campbell,  Dekker,  A Flower,  GW Flower,  Olonga,   P Strang,  AR Whittall,  G Whittall,  Wishart.

1 -   Evans,  Shah,  Streak,  B C Strang.

0  -  Brandes.

Match appearances

Highlights

•  In the first Test at Colombo  Paul Strang took five wickets for 106 runs.

•  Ali Shah defied Sri Lanka with a maiden half century.

Tour Summary

Return to Zimbabwe

Colombo   Q Harare

Eddo Brandes returned home on 5 September.

The touring party arrived back in Harare on Tuesday 24 September. 

Time away from Zimbabwe

    36 days  

(19 August  -  24 September)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

Postscript

The team was due to depart again for Pakistan on 7 October so the players had a very short period of time at home.