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the offending ball which was not withdrawn as evidence.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)