Test Cricket Tours Sri Lanka to West Indies 1996-97

Test Cricket Tours - Sri Lanka to West Indies 1996-97

Tour of West Indies 1996-97               Captain: Arjuna Ranatunga

Twentieth Test tour
First official Test-playing tour of the West indies by Sri Lanka

   (June 1997)

Apart from having played in a one-day match in Trinidad to mark the centenary of the Queen's Park Cricket Club, this was Sri Lanka's maiden tour of the Caribbean, and was restricted to the east of the region.
The Test series was lost by one match to nil. Impetuous batting at Antigua, after playing well when the pitch was poor in the first innings, saw Sri Lanka all out in 35 overs and brought defeat. A spirited fightback, chasing 269 to win, was interrupted by rain at St Vincent and the Sri Lankan innings lost momentum, and the match was drawn.

Other Sri Lankan Tours

Previous tour
To New Zealand 1996-97

Next tour
To India 1997-98

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Openers: Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Roshan Mahanama
Batsmen: Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Russel Arnold, Hashan Tillekeratne.
Wicket-keeper:   Romesh Kaluwitharana.
Spin bowlers: Kumar Dharmasena, Muttiah Muralitharan
Fast bowlers: Sajeewa de Silva, Dulip Liyanage, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Pramodya Wickremasinghe, Nuwan Zoysa,

R P Arnold
NCC
23
LHB
ODI

M S Atapattu
SSC
26
RHB opener
ODI

K S C de Silva
NCC
26
RFM
ODI

P A de Silva
NCC
21
RHB   vice-captain
ODI

H D K Dharmasena
Bf'd
26
OB
ODI

S T Jayasuriya
Bf'd
27
LHB opener   SLA
ODI

R S Kaluwitharana
Ct
27
RHB WK
ODI

D K Liyanage
Ct
25
RFM
ODI

R S Mahanama
Bf'd
31
RHB
ODI

M Muralitharan
T U
25
OB
ODI

K R Pushpakumara
NCC
21
RFM
ODI

A Ranatunga
SSC
33
LHB   captain
ODI

S Ranatunga
NCC
27
LHB
ODI

H P Tillekeratne
NCC
29
LHB
ODI

D N T Zoysa
SSC
19
LFM
ODI



Average age of team at time of first Test match
(13 June 1997) :
yrs months.

Key to clubs :
B'fd: Bloomfield (3)
Ct: Colts Cricket Club (2)
NCC: Nondescripts (6)
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

A Ranatunga 67, Aravinda de Silva 59, Tillekeratne 42, Mahanama 41, Muralitharan 28, Jayasuriya 23, Dharmasena 13, Kaluwitharana 12, Liyanage 8, Pushpakumara 8, S Ranatunga 8, Atapattu 6, Zoysa 3, Arnold 2, KSC Silva 2.

Management Team

L R D Mendis
Manager
B Yardley
Coach
Alex Kountouri
Physiotherapist
Gregory Asgarali
Liaison officer

Selectors

Selection

Tour Party Announced : first week of May 1997.
Not selected : Naveed Nawaz
Nuwan Zoysa passed a fitness test on a groin injury.
Withdrawal : Chaminda Vaas withdrew because of a back injury (occurred in the ODI tournament in India before the tour) and Pushpakumara took his place in the side.

Travel

The team played a four-nation ODI tournament in India, starting on 9 May, to celebrate its Golden Jubilee.
The tour party flew out of Colombo on Sunday 1 June 1997 arriving the next day at Piarco International Airport, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, after a 20-hour flight. Only half the players turned out for their first workout at Queen's Park Oval, the rest being confined to the hotel with a virus. Pushpakumara, Vaas's replacement, left Sri Lanka on 3 June.

On-tour selection panel

Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Bruce Yardley, Duleep Mendis

Reinforcements

Naveed Nawaz (LHB) pictured, and Ruwan Kalpage (OB), both from Bloomfield, flew to West Indies on 16 June after Tillekeratne (broken forearm) and Nuwan Zoysa (stress fracture of back) were forced to return to Sri Lanka early.

Fixtures/Results

a
†Pointe a Pierre
Trinidad & Tobago
Lost 3 w
b
§ Port-of-Spain
West Indies (ODI)
Lost 35 r
c
St John's, Antigua
Leeward Islands
Drawn
d
ST JOHN'S, ANTIGUA
WEST INDIES   First Test
LOST 6 w
e
ST VINCENT
WEST INDIES   Second Test
DRAWN

† not first-class

§ one-day international

Test appearances on tour

2 - Aravinda de Silva, Sajeewa de Silva, Dharmasena, Jayasuriya, Kaluwitharana, Mahanama, Muralitharan, Pushpakumara, Arjuna Ranatunga.
1 - Arnold, Atapattu, Sanjeeva Ranatunga, Tillekeratne.
0 - Kalpage, Liyanage, Nawaz, Zoysa.

Match appearances

a
b
c
d
e
RP Arnold
x

x
T

MS Atapattu
x
o
x

T
KSC de Silva
x
o

T
T
PA de Silva

o
x
T
T
K Dharmasena

o
x
T
T
ST Jayasuriya

o

T
T
RS Kalpage

R Kaluwitharana
x
o
x
T
T
DK Liyanage
x
o
x

RS Mahanama
x
o
x
T
T
M Muralitharan
x
o
x
T
T
Naveed Nawaz

R Pushpakumara
x

x
T
T
A Ranatunga

o
x
T
T
S Ranatunga
x

T
HP Tillekeratne
x
o
x
T

DNT Zoysa
x

Highlights

• Jayasuriya and Ranatunga shared a stand of 110 in the first Test at Antigua.
• Murali took 16 wickets in the two Test matches. His figures were 5-36 & 3-72 and 3-28 & 5-113.

Tour Summary

P
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
2
0
1
1
-
Other f-c matches
1
0
0
1
-
Minor matches
1
0
1
0
-
One-day internationals
1
0
1
0
-
All Matches
5
0
3
2
-

Return to Sri Lanka

Departed from St Vincent on 25 June 1997.

.