This tour set the Sri Lankans back again though they arrived full of confidence after success in Pakistan and Sharjah but could not resist Australia in the three Test matches until they were as good as lost. Strong second innings batting performances by Sri Lanka could not prevent defeat. The tourists reached the finals of the ODI 'World Series', where the crowd was swelled to 72,000 by expatriate supporters, but lost twice to Australia.They would have their revenge in the forthcoming Wills World Cup.
The 1995-96 tour saw the most controversial in Australia since Bodyline.The results in the Test series were overshadowed by controversial umpiring decisions, alleged incidents of sledging, injuries and, worst of all, by the ball tampering allegations and the Muralitharan 'throwing' affair.
At Perth Sri Lanka became the first Test side to be convicted of ball tampering, though play continued with the offending ball which was not withdrawn as evidence. The Sri Lankans were angered that the accusation was endorsed too impulsively by match referee Grahame Dowling, a decision overturned by the I.C.C. a fortnight later.
In the following Test at Melbourne Darrell Hair called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing. The Sri Lankans protested that Murali had been unable to straighten his elbow since birth and gave only a visual impression of throwing. However, Ross Emerson umpiring his first ODI at Brisbane also repeatedly called him, even when Murali deliberately altered his action. This was the last match he played on the tour. By the end of the one-day finals, steadily worsening relations led most of the Sri Lankans to snub Taylor the Australian captain's approach to shake hands.
The itinerary between the first and second Tests provided the Sri Lankans with only two days of cricket in a fortnight.
Australian physiotherapist Alex Kountouri, 27, from Melbourne tookoverfrom Dan Kiesler, who was dropped.
Selectors
Duleep Mendis (chairman), .......
Selection
Unavailable:
Tour Party Announced : 27 October 1995.
Not selected:The selectors decided to send 18 players but there was still no room for Ruwan Kalpage.
Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka
19 days
(27 October to 15 November)
Travel
ColomboQHong KongQSydney
Chaminda Vaas and Manjula Munasinghe were sent to Sydney in advance on 3 November to be treated for their injuries.
The team assembled at Bandaranaike InternationalAirport (Katunayake), and in the early hours of Wednesday 15 November 1995 left on Cathay Pacific Airlines for Hong Kong, taking a connecting flight to Sydney. They arrived in Australia on Thursdaymorning 16 November, and flew to Brisbane to play their first match at Cairns.
Time spent in Australia
x days
(16 November - depart Host)
On-tour selection panel
Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Duleep Mendis, Dav Whatmore.
Reinforcements (1)
R S Kalpage
Bfd
25
OB
ODI
Ruwan Kalpage(Bf'd)was flown out9 January after Muralitharan was no-balled by Emerson and played within hours of arriving on 9 January.Arjuna Ranatunga (hand injury) and Mahanama were unable to play the final Test.
•There were second innings Test centuries for Tillekeratne (119 at Perth), Gurusinha (143 at Melbourne) and the recalled Jayasuriya (112 at Adelaide) but none was able to stave off defeat.
On Saturday night 3February 1996 the Sri Lanka team returned and was received at the Bandaranaike (Katunayake) International Airport by the Minister of Sports. They had only a few days' break to get over the bitter experience of their 3-nil Test whitewash in Australia, before assembling for the World Cup tournament practice sessions.
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.
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)