| Tour of India 1982-83 Captain: Bandula Warnapura | |
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| Sri Lanka’s second Test tour (September 1982) First Test-playing tour of India by Sri Lanka (no previous Test tour) | Sri Lanka had previously toured India as ‘Ceylon’ three times (1932, 1941, 1964) and most recently in 1980-81 apart from many visits for the annual Gopalan Trophy fixture against Madras (later Tamil Nadu). The Sri Lankans may have expected to do well in the one-day international series but lost all three matches chiefly because their bowlers were unable to combat the strokeplay of India's dashing batsmen like Kris Srikkanth. In the Test match at Madras India ran up a massive first innings but the tourists fought back determinedly, and in the end India had to call off its run chase to win the match and settle for a draw. Asantha de Mel, with 5 for 68, heroically thwarted India's attempt to score 175 runs they needed to win the Test. Duleep Mendis was made an Indian Cricketer of the Year for scoring centuries in each innings of the Test match but Roy Dias played the innings of the tour, 97 in 108 balls in the second innings at Madras. These two were at the time being enticed to lead the Arosa Sri Lankans in South Africa but the award of captaincy and vice-captaincy on the next tour to New Zealand helped ensure they would not be tempted to do so. | Other Sri Lankan Tours Previous tour To Pakistan 1981-82 Next tour To New Zealand 1982-83 Next tour of India 1986-87 | |
| Members of the Test tour party (14 + !) Opening batsmen: Sidath Wettimuny, Bandula Warnapura Middle-order batsmen : Roy Dias, Duleep Mendis, Ranjith Madugalle, Arjuna Ranatunga, Bernard Perera Wicket-keeper Mahes Goonetilleke Spin bowlers : Ajit de Silva, Somachandra de Silva Fast bowlers: Ashantha de Mel, Ravi Ratnayeke, Anura Ranasinghe, Vinodhan John | A L F de Mel | SSC | 23 | RFM | | D S de Silva | Mwa | 40 | LBG | | G R A de Silva | Bf'd | 29 | SLA | | R L Dias | CCC | 29 | RHB | | H M Goonetillake | Knd | 30 | RHB opener WK | | V B J John | Bf'd | 22 | RFM | | R S Madugalle | NCC | 23 | RHB | | L R D Mendis | SSC | 30 | RHB vice-captain | | J B N Perera | Kdy | 26 | RHB | | A N Ranasinghe | Bf'd | 25 | RHB LM | | A Ranatunga | SSC | 18 | LHB | | J Ravi Ratnayeke | NCC | 22 | RFM | | B Warnapura | Bf'd | 29 | RHB opener captain | | S Wettimuny | SSC | 26 | RHB opener | |
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Club representation: B'fd: Bloomfield (4), CCC: Colombo (1) Kdy: Kandy CC (2) Mwa: Moratuwa (1) NCC: Nondescripts (2) SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club (4) Average age of team at time of first Test match (17 September 1982) : 27 yrs 1 months. Key to type : LHB left-hand bat, LBG leg break and googly bowler, OB off break, SLA slow left-arm bowler, RFM right arm fast medium bowler | |
| Test Appearances made before the tour | de Mel 4, D S deSilva 4, Dias 4, Goonetillake 4, Madugalle 4, Mendis 4, Wettimuny 4, GRA deSilva 3, Ranatunga 3, Warnapura 3, Ravi Ratnayeke 2, Ranasinghe 1, John 0, Perera 0, Rumesh Ratnayeke 0. | | |
| Tour Officials | C T A Shaffter | Manager | A Polonowita | Assistant manager |
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| Selectors | M A H Fuard (chairman), L N G Rodrigo and W A N Silva. Lasantha Rodrigo was a batsman for Sinhalese Sports Club who represented Ceylon in the 1960s, as did Abu Fuard who was later one of the country's best coaches. W A N (Wickrama Arachige Nandasena) Silva of Panadura Sports Club, and then Bloomfield until 1972, became the Sri Lankan Board's Director of Coaching (interview). | | |
| Selection | Unavailable: R S A Jayasekera (emigrated to Canada). Tour Party Announced : The Sports Minister Vincent Perera approved the 14-man tour party on 19 August 1982. Vinodhan John was the only new player. D S de Silva was chosen but was asked to clarify his availability concerning his injured arm. Stand-bys: Rochana S Jayawardene (Royal), Guy de Alwis (SSC), Rumesh Ratnayeke (NCC) | Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka 22 days (19 August to 10 September) | |
| Travel Colombo Q New Delhi | Before the tour practice matches took place between Mahes Goonetilleke's XI and Bandula Warnapura's XI. The team flew out of Colombo to New Delhi on 10 September 1982. This date was postponed from 8 September because the date of the ODI at Amritsar had been shifted. | Time spent in India x days (10 September - depart Host) | |
| On-tour selection panel | Schaffter, Polonowita, Warnapura, Mendis. | | |
| Reinforcements (1) | When Asantha De Mel was suffering from stomach illness and exhaustion, manager Schaffter requested a replacement player. Rumesh J Ratnayeke, aged 19, flew in to Madras on 16 September. | | |
| Fixtures/Results | a | § Amritsar | India (1st ODI) | Lost 78 r | b | � New Delhi | Delhi (50 overs) | Won 12 r | c | § New Delhi | India (2nd ODI) | Lost 6 w | d | MADRAS | INDIA Test Match | DRAWN | e | § Bangalore | India (3rd ODI) | Lost 6 w |
| � not first-class § one-day international Time spent in India before First Test: 7 days (10 - 17 September) | |
| Test appearances on tour | 1 - de Mel, D.S.de Silva, Ajit de Silva, Dias, Goonetillake, Madugalle, Mendis, Ranasinghe, Ranatunga, Ravi Ratnayeke, Warnapura. 0 - John, Perera, Rumesh J Ratnayeke, Wettimuny. | | |
| Match appearances T Test match o one-day international x other match ⊕ T/20 international - teams not announced W won L lost D drawn T tie N no result A abandoned u unknown result C cancelled On his second overseas Test tour Bernard Perera at last got on the field in the match against Delhi | | a | b | c | d | e | A L F de Mel | o | x | o | T | o | D S de Silva | o | | | T | o | G R A de Silva | | x | o | T | | R L Dias | o | x | o | T | o | H M Goonetillake | o | x | o | T | o | V B J John | o | x | o | | o | R S Madugalle | o | x | o | T | o | L R D Mendis | o | | o | T | o | J B N Perera | | x | | | | A N Ranasinghe | o | | o | T | | A Ranatunga | | x | | T | | J Ravi Ratnayeke | o | x | o | T | o | Rumesh Ratnayeke | | | | | o | B Warnapura | o | x | o | T | o | S Wettimuny | o | x | o | | o | R E S U L T S | L | W | L | D | L |
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| Highlights | • Duleep Mendis was the first Sri Lankan to score a century in each innings of a Test match (both scores 105). • Asantha de Mel, with 5 for 68, heroically thwarted India's attempt to score 175 runs needed to win the Test. • When dismissing Gavaskar, leg-spinner D S de Silva took his 200th wicket in first-class cricket | | |
| Tour Summary | | F | W | L | D | Aban | Test Matches | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | Other first-class matches | 0 | - | - | - | - | ϯ Minor matches | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | § One-day internationals | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | All Matches | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - |
| F Fixtures W Won L Lost D Drawn T Tied Canc Cancelled Aban abandoned | |
| Return to Sri Lanka x Q Colombo | (Last match ends at Bangalore 26 September) . | Time away from Sri Lanka x days (10 September to | |
| Finances | The tour was guaranteed that Rs 3½ lakhs would be paid for the five matches played. | | |
| Postscript | | | |
| Other Test tours in 1982-83 | Australians to | © 2015 | |
| Acknowledgements To general reading of The Times newspaper digital archive (Gale Group); Jamaica Gleanor archive; National Library of Australia Trove; Papers Past NZ. From former British Newspaper Library, Colindale and online: The Age, Melbourne Argus, Bangladesh Daily Star, Barbados Advocate, Canberra Times, Daily Telegraph, Dawn, Eastern Daily Press, The Hindu, The Independent (Dhaka), Indian Express, The Island (Lanka), Lahore Times, New Nation, New Zealand Auckland Herald, Sri Lanka Daily News, Stabroek News, Straits Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Telegraph (Calcutta), Times of India , The Tribune Chandigarh, Trinidad Guardian, The West Australian. cricketweb.net; ESPN cricinfo; cricket archive; www.cricketcountry; www.coverpoint Magazines/periodicals including Australian Cricket, B & H West Indies Annual, The Cricketer International, Cricketer Quarterly, Indian Cricket, Indian Cricket Field Annual, Playfair Cricket Monthly, Shell Cricket Almanack of New Zealand, Wisden Cricket Monthly, Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack. Men In White, A History of Australian Cricket (Harte), A History of Indian Cricket (Bose), A History of West Indies Cricket (Manley) Biography and tour books (own collection and at the M.C.C. Library at Lord’s Ground) © ALL CONTENTS OF THE TEST-CRICKET-TOURS.CO.UK WEBSITE ARE COPYRIGHT | |