| Tour of New Zealand 1994-95 Captain: Arjuna Ranatunga | |
| | | © Test Cricket Tours | |
| Sri Lanka’s sixteenth Test tour (February - April 1995) Third Test-playing tour of New Zealand by Sri Lanka (previous Test tour 1990/91) | This tour brought Sri Lanka its debut series win outside the Pearl Island. In the First Test at Napier the Sri Lankans gained their maiden Test match victory away from home, thanks particularly to Chaminda Vaas's 10 for 90 on a green pitch. Vaas took six more wickets at Dunedin where determined Sri Lankan batting forced a draw and made safe the first overseas series win. | Other Sri Lankan Tours Previous tour To Zimbabwe 1994-95 Next tour To Pakistan 1995-96 Next tour of New Zealand 1997-97 | |
| Members of the Test tour party (16) Opening batsmen:Asanka Gurusinha, Dulip Samaraweera, Chaminda Mendis. Middle-order batsmen: Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanjeewa Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Hashan Tillekeratne (wk) Wicket-keeper Chamara Dunusinghe Spin bowlers: Muttiah Muralitharan, Ruwan Kalpage, Jayantha Silva Fast bowlers: Ravindra Pushpakumara, Janak Gamage, Chaminda Vaas, Pramodya Wickremasinghe | P A de Silva | NCC | 29 | RHB vice-captain | ODI | | C I Dunusinghe | Ant | 24 | WK | ODI | | J C Gamage | Ga | 20 | RFM | ODI | | A P Gurusinha | SSC | 28 | LHB opener | ODI | | S T Jayasuriya | Bf'd | 25 | LHB opener SLA | ODI | | R S Kalpage | Bf'd | 25 | OB | ODI | | M C Mendis | Ct | 26 | RHB | ODI | | M Muralitharan | T U | 22 | OB | ODI | | K R Pushpakumara | NCC | 19 | RFM | ODI | | A Ranatunga | SSC | 31 | LHB captain | ODI | | S Ranatunga | NCC | 25 | LHB | ODI | | D P Samaraweera | Ct | 23 | RHB opener | ODI | | K J Silva | Bf'd | 21 | SLA | ODI | | H P Tillekeratne | NCC | 27 | LHB second WK | ODI | | C U Vaas | Ct | 21 | LFM | ODI | | G P Wickremasinghe | SSC | 23 | RFM | ODI | | | | |
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Average age of team at time of first Test match (11 March 1995) : 24 yrs 9 months. Representation of clubs : Ant: Antonians (1) B'fd: Bloomfield (3) Ct: Colts Cricket Club (3) Ga Galle (1) NCC: Nondescripts (4) SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club (3) TU: Tamil Union (1) 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 | Arjuna Ranatunga 54, de Silva 46, Gurusinha 31, Tillekeratne 28, Jayasuriya 16, Muralitharan 16, Wickremasinghe 15, Kalpage 8, Samaraweera 5, Sajeewa Ranatunga 4, Vaas 4, Pushpakumara 3, Dunusinghe 0, Gamage 0, Mendis 0, Silva 0. | | |
| Tour Officials | Neil Perera | Tour Manager | T B Kehelgamuwa | Cricket manager | Dan Kiesel | Physiotherapist |
Ranjith Fernando said after the South African tour that he was unavailable for New Zealand having family and business commitments to attend to. The managers were appointed on 18 January 1995. Perera was appointed over Paranathala by 9 votes to 6. Kehelgamuwa was appointed coach again; Roy Dias and DS de Silva were also contenders but were unable to take up the role of coach then as they were involved in the over-35s Masters tournament. | | |
| Selectors | Duleep Mendis (Chair of Selectors), Roy Dias, T B Kehelgumuwa, Ranjan Madugalle. | | |
| Selection | Unavailable: - No pool was named for the tour squad but the selectors would select according to performances in the Sara Trophy tournament. Tour Party Announced : 26 January 1995. The 16-man team would be pruned down to 14 for the Sharjah section of the tour. Stand-bys : Russel Arnold (NCC), R S Kaluwitharana (Galle), W Labrooy (NCC), S Jayantha (Singla SC), Indika de Saram (Tamil Union), C M Mendis (Colts), H Wickremaratne (SSC). Withdrawal: On 31 January Roshan Mahanama (Bloomfield) withdrew because of his unhealed rib injury rather than hope to join the tour later. Either Russel Arnold or Chaminda Mendis could replace him and the choice fell on Mendis after both players faced a battery of fast bowlers in the nets, watched by Duleep Mendis and the other selectors. | Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka 25 days (26 January to 20 February) | |
| Travel Colombo Q Wellington | The team began practice games at SSC (Maitland Place) on 8 February, and then continued playing in the Sara Trophy. Departure from Colombo was on 20 February 1995. | Time spent in New Zealand 40 days (21 February - 2 April) | |
| Reinforcements | None | | |
| Fixtures/Results | a | � New Plymouth | New Zealand Academy XI (50 overs) | No result | b | Wanganui | New Zealand XI | Drawn | c | Palmerston North | New Zealand Academy XI | Won 242 r | d | NAPIER | NEW ZEALAND First Test | WON 241 r | e | DUNEDIN | NEW ZEALAND Second Test | DRAWN | f | � Christchurch | Canterbury (50 overs) | Won 5 w | g | § Christchurch | New Zealand (1st ODI) | Lost 33 r | h | § Hamilton | New Zealand (2nd ODI) | Lost scoring rate | i | § Auckland | New Zealand (3rd ODI) | Won 51 r |
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| Test appearances on tour | 2 - Dunusinghe, de Silva, Gurusinha, Muralitharan, Pushpakumara, A Ranatunga, S Ranatunga, Samaraweera, Tillekeratne, Vaas, Wickremasinghe. 0 - Gamage, Jayasuriya, Kalpage, Mendis, Silva. | | |
| 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 | | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | P A de Silva | x | x | x | T | T | x | o | o | o | C I Dunusinghe | x | x | x | T | T | x | | | | J C Gamage | x | x | x | | | x | | o | o | A P Gurusinha | | x | x | T | T | | o | o | o | S T Jayasuriya | x | x | | | | x | o | o | o | R S Kalpage | x | | | | | x | o | o | o | M C Mendis | x | | x | | | x | | | o | M Muralitharan | | | x | T | T | | o | o | o | K R Pushpakumara | x | x | | T | T | x | o | o | | A Ranatunga | | | x | T | T | | o | o | o | S Ranatunga | x | x | x | T | T | x | o | o | o | D P Samaraweera | x | x | x | T | T | x | | | | KJ Silva | | x | x | | | x | o | | | H P Tillekeratne | x | x | | T | T | x | o | o | o | C U Vaas | x | x | | T | T | | o | o | o | G P Wickremasinghe | | | x | T | T | | | | | R E S U L T S | N | D | W | W | D | W | L | L | W |
| � not first-class § one-day international Time spent in New Zealand before First Test: 18 days (21 February - 11 March) | |
| Highlights | • Chamara Dunusinghe, on his debut in Test cricket, top scored with 91 as well as taking seven catches at Napier. • Chaminda Vaas (10-90 at Napier) became the first Sri Lankan bowler to take ten wickets in a Test match. In a low-scoring match he also played innings of 33* and 36. • Vaas then scored 51 and took 6-87 in the second Test at Dunedin. • Gurusinha (127) and Tillekeratne (108) shared a 4th wicket partnership of 192 at Dunedin • Arjuna Ranatunga scored a rapid 90 as Sri Lanka set New Zealand a target of 338 at Dunedin. | | |
| Tour Summary | | F | W | L | D | Aban | Test Matches | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | Other first-class matches | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | ϯ Minor matches | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | § One-day internationals | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | All Matches | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | - |
| F Fixtures W Won L Lost D Drawn T Tied Canc Cancelled Aban abandoned | |
| Return to Sri Lanka Auckland Q Sharjah | It was planned that two of the team would not go to Sharjah for the Pepsi Trophy series between 4 and 15 April. But the selectors decided to drop five of them and to add three new players. C Mendis, R Pushpakumara, S Ranatunga, K J Silva and P Wickremasinghe returned to Sri Lanka. The rest of the tour group left New Zealand on 2 April. They were joined in Sharjah by Roshan Mahanama, Kumar Dharmasena and Champake Ramanayeke. | Time away from Sri Lanka x days (20 February to arrive home NZ) | |
| Postscript | The touring party retained the same two management officials but, as Dav Whatmore had been appointed coach on 30 March 1995, this was the last coaching responsibility for Kehelgamuwa. | | |
| Other Test tours in 1994-95 | Australians to England 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 | |