Tour of New Zealand 1996-97               Captain: Arjuna Ranatunga
			©  Test Cricket Tours
	Sri Lanka’s nineteenth Test tour (February - March 1997)     Fourth Test-playing  tour of New Zealand by Sri Lanka (previous Test tour 1994-95)	Winning the World Cup in 1996 gave Sri Lankan cricket a tremendous boost and eroded the reluctance on the part of several countries to invite them on a full programme of tours. The Executive Committee of the Sri Lankan Board gave the go-ahead to pick Gurusinha despite his being disciplined for speaking to the media without permission. But the left-handed batsman turned down his place after being ordered to report home for a training camp. He wanted to join the tour direct from his club in Melbourne for training, He was fined for writing about it in the press, though he never paid, bringing his Sri Lankan Test career to a close. There was no time for preparation for the Tests, came at the coldest time of the New Zealand season. Muralitharan was cleared to carry on bowling after the accusations in Australia but for the first time Sri Lanka would rely more on their pacers, Vaas being joined by two other left-armers, Nuwan Soyza and Sajeewa Silva with the experienced Pramodya Wickremasinghe and Ravindra Pushpakumara to complete the five pronged pace attack. Zoysa, the 6' 4" left-arm fast bowler, turned out to be the find of the tour.	Other Sri Lankan Tours     Previous tour To Australia 1995-96     Next tour To West Indies 1996-97     Next tour of New Zealand2004-05
	⋆Members of the Test tour party  (15  +  2)     Opening batsmen:  Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Dulip Samaraweera. Middle-order batsmen:Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Roshan Mahanama, Wicket-keeper:   Romesh Kaluwitharana Spin bowlers:  Kumar Dharmasena, Muttiah Muralitharan Fast bowlers:  Sajeewa de Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Pramodya Wickremasinghe, Nuwan Zoysa.	M S Atapattu SSC 24 RHB opener ODI   K S C de Silva NCC 26 LFM swing ODI   P A de Silva NCC 31 RHB  vice-captain ODI   H D K Dharmasena Bf'd 25 OB ODI   S T Jayasuriya Bf'd 27 LHB opener  SLA ODI   R S Kaluwitharana Ct 27 RHB   WK ODI   R S Mahanama Bf'd 30 RHB ODI   M Muralitharan T U 24 OB ODI   K R Pushpakumara NCC 21 RFM ODI   A Ranatunga SSC 33 LHB  captain ODI   D P Samaraweera Ct 25 RHB  opener     H P Tillakaratne NCC 29 LHB   reserve WK ODI   C U Vaas Ct 23 LFM ODI   G P Wickremasinghe SSC 25 RFM     D N T Zoysa SSC 18 LFM ODI   The following were members of U D U Chandana ODI the one- day international squad R S Kalpage ODI	Average age of  team at time of first Test match   (7 March 1997) :      26 yrs  4 months.     Club representation B'fd: Bloomfield (3) Ct: Colts Cricket Club (3) NCC: Nondescripts (4) SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club (4) 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     ODI    Member of the squad for ODIs
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Ranatunga 63,  Aravinda de Silva 55,  Mahanama 39,  Tillekeratne 38,  Muralitharan 25,  Wickremasinghe 23,  Jayasuriya 19, Vaas 14,  Dharmasena 11, Kalpage 8,  Kaluwitharana 8,  Pushpakumara 8,  Samaraweera 7, Atapattu 3,  Chandana 0, Sajeewa de Silva 0,  Zoysa 0.
	Tour Officials	Duleep Mendis Manager Bruce Yardley Coach Alex Kountouri Physio
	Selectors	L R D Mendis (chairman),  R S Madugalle,  T B Kehelgamuwa,  R L Dias,  S Wettimuny. In January 1997 the Cricket Board sought the Sports Minister`s approval to co-opt Yardley onto the selection committee.
	Selection	The chosen team was given ratification by the Sports Minister, S.B. Dissanayake. When had Murali been cleared?   Tour Party Announced :  6 February 1997   Withdrawal  :  Asanka Gurusinha dropped out of the team after selection, being replaced by Samaraweera.  Gurusinha had been asked to return home for training by 8 February.	Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka   17 days (6 February to 23 February)
	Travel Colombo  Q   Auckland	Left early on Sunday morning 23 February from Katunayake for New Zealand. Arrived at Auckland 25 February, flew to Christchurch 26 February 1997, went to Taupo for an extra match the next day, arranged at the Sri Lankans' request.	Time spent in New Zealand    x days (25 February - March)
	On-tour selection panel	Arjuna Ranatunga,   Aravinda de Silva,   Bruce Yardley,   Duleep Mendis.
	Reinforcements  (2)	U D U Chandana TU 24 RHB     LB   R S Kalpage Bfd 26 OB   All-rounder  Upul Chandana and spion bowler  Ruwan Kalpage replaced Dulip Samaraweera and Pramodya Wickremasinghe, who returned to Sri Lanka after the First Test.
	Fixtures/Results	a � Taupo Northern Districts (2 day) Drawn b Gisborne New Zealand A abandoned c DUNEDIN NEW ZEALAND  First Test LOST  inns 36 r d HAMILTON NEW ZEALAND Second Test LOST  120 r e � Napier Central Districts Won 6 w f § Auckland New Zealand (1st ODI) abandoned g § Christchurch New Zealand (2nd ODI) Won 6 w h § Wellington New Zealand (3rd ODI) Lost 69 r	� not first-class §  one-day international   Time spent in  before First Test:  15 days (25 February - 7 March)
	Test appearances on tour	2 -  Aravinda de Silva, Jayasuriya, Kaluwitharana, Mahanama, Muralitharan, Ranatunga, Tillekeratne, Vaas, Zoysa. 1 -  Atapattu, Dharmasena, Sajeewa deSilva, Wickremasinghe. 0 -  Pushpakumara, Samaraweera.
	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 M S Atapattu x   T   o       U Chandana         o   o o KSC de Silva x     T o       P A de Silva     T T o   o o HDK Dharmasena x     T o   o o S T Jayasuriya     T T o   o o R S Kaluwitharana x   T T o   o o R S Kalpage         o       R S Mahanama x   T T     o o M Muralitharan x   T T     o o R Pushpakumara x       o       A Ranatunga x   T T o   o o D P Samaraweera x               H P Tillekeratne x   T T o   o o C U Vaas x   T T     o o P Wickremasinghe     T           D N T Zoysa     T T     o o   R E S U L T S D A L L W A W L
	Highlights	•  Vaas took the hat-trick v Northern Districts. •  Muralitharan became the first Sri Lankan to take 100 Test wickets.
	Tour Summary	F W L D Aban Test Matches 2 0 2 0 - Other first-class matches 1 0 0 0 1 ϯ Minor matches 2 1 0 1 - § One-day internationals 3 1 1 0 1 All Matches 8 2 3 1 2	F  Fixtures   W  Won   L  Lost   D Drawn   T  Tied  Canc  Cancelled  Aban  abandoned
	Return to Sri Lanka Wellington  Q  Colombo	Last match in Wellington ended 27 March   .	Time away from Sri Lanka     x days   (23 February - March)
	Other Test tours in 1996-97	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

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