Home
AUSTRALIA
BANGLADESH
ENGLAND
INDIA
NEW ZEALAND
PAKISTAN
SOUTH AFRICA
SRI LANKA
WEST INDIES
ZIMBABWE
Contact Us

Test Cricket Tours - Sri Lanka to England 1998

 

 

Tour of England 1998                     Captain: Arjuna Ranatunga

 

 

 

 

©  Test Cricket Tours

 

 

 

Sri Lanka’s twenty-third Test tour

 

(July - September 1998)

 

Fourth Test-playing tour of England by Sri Lanka

   (previous tour 1991)

 

 

Sri Lanka's Board of Control, the BCCSL, negotiated with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to increase the number of tourists from the original 15 to 18, allowing for three potential one-day specialists to be included in the squad. The thinking behind this was preparation for the 1999 World Cup as Sri Lanka had no Test match commitments in the next eight months after this tour.

David Lloyd's comments about the ``unorthodox action'' of off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan after England had badly lost the Test match, attracted much criticism, and censure from the ECB.

Assistant coach Bruce Yardley said that during the tour interference from officials outside the team distracted the players and put pressure on them.

 

 

Other Sri Lankan Tours

 

Previous tour

South Africa 1997-98

 

Next tour

Pakistan & Bangladesh 1998-99

 

Next tour of England

 2002

 

 

 

 

Members of the Test tour party  (18  +  1)

 

 

Opening batsmen:  Marvan Atapattu, Chandika  Hathurasinghe, Sanath Jayasuriya, Russel Arnold.

Middle-order batsmen:Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Mahela Jayawardene

Wicket-keeper/batsmen:Romesh Kaluwitharana, Hashan Tillekeratne.

Spin bowlers: Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana.

Fast bowlers:  Sanjeewa de Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Ravi Pushpakumara,  Pramodya Wickremasinghe

 

 

 

 

R P Arnold

NCC

24

LHB

 

 

M S Atapattu

SSC

27

RHB opener

 

 

M N Bandaratilleke

T U

23

SLA

 

 

U D U Chandana

T U

26

LB

 

 

P A de Silva

NCC

32

RHB   vice-captain

 

 

H D K Dharmasena

Bf'd

27

OB

 

 

U C Hathurusinghe

Ms

29

RHB

 

 

S T Jayasuriya

Bf'd

29

LHB opener   SLA

 

 

M D Jayawardene

SSC

21

RHB

 

 

P W Jayawardene

NCC

18

second WK

 

 

R S Kaluwitharana

Ct

28

RHB opener   WK

 

 

M Muralitharan

T U

26

OB

 

 

A S A Perera

SSC

20

RFM

 

 

K R Pushpakumara

NCC

23

RFM

 

 

A Ranatunga

SSC

34

LHB    captain

 

 

H P Tillekeratne

NCC

31

LHB

 

 

M S Villavarayan

T U

25

RFM

 

 

G P Wickremasinghe

SSC

27

RFM

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(27 August 1998) :

     26 yrs 8 months.

 

 

 

 

Club representation :

B'fd: Bloomfield (2)

Ct: Colts Cricket Club (1)

Ms : Moors Sporting Club  (1)

NCC: Nondescripts 5)

SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club (5)

TU: Tamil Union (4)

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

Ranatunga 81,  Aravinda de Silva 73,  Tillekeratne 52,  Muralitharan 41,  Jayasuriya 37,  Wickremasinghe 30,  Hathurasinghe 23,  Kaluwitharana 23,  Dharmasena 19,  Atapattu 19, Pushpakumara 18,  Jayawardene 5,  Arnold 3,  Bandaratillake 3,  Chandana 0,  Jayawardene 0,  Perera 0,  Villavaryan 0.

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Officials

 

E R Fernando

Manager

R L Dias

Coach

Alex Kountouri

Physiotherapist

Ahmed 'Alan' Wahab

Liaison officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selectors

 

 Duleep Mendis (Chairman), ............  and new coach Roy Dias.

 

 

 

 

Selection

 

On 9 May Ranjith Fernando announced as Manager of the national team after Duleep Mendis informed the Board that he will not be available for two months, and Roy Dias took over as Head Coach from Bruce Yardley who was offered only to be in charge of coaching the spin bowling.

Unavailable : CU Vaas and DNT Zoysa

Tour Party Announced : 2 July 1998.

Prasanna Jayawardene was still a school student.

Not selected :  Roshan Mahanama.  He then asked for two months leave from his contract which meant he could not be recalled for the ODI tri-series either.

 

Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka

  7 days

(2 July to 9 July)

 

 

 

 

Travel

Colombo  Q  London, Heathrow

 

Departure was from Colombo on 9 July 1998, only two days after the Nidahas Cup final. Arrived at Heathrow Airport, London, on 11 July.

 

Time spent in England

   54 days

(11 July - 3 September)

 

 

 

 

On-tour selection panel

 

Arjuna Ranatunga,  Aravinda de Silva,  Ranjith Fernando (manager),  Roy Dias (coach)

 

 

 

 

 

Reinforcements (1)

 

C U Vaas

Ct

24

LFM

 

Chaminda Vaas joined the team but the physio Alex Kontouris ruled he could not play as he had a slight groin injury.

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures/Results

 

a

† Southampton

Hampshire

abandoned

b

Taunton

Somerset

Drawn

c

Cardiff

Glamorgan

Lost 5 w

d

Leicester

Leicestershire

Won 9 w

e

† Worcester

Worcestershire

Won 7 w

f

Lord's

Middlesex

Drawn

g

† Norwich

E.C.B. XI

Won 8 w

h

† Northampton

Northamptonshire (50 overs)

Won 1 w

i

† Northampton

Northamptonshire (50 overs)

Won 16 r

j

† Canterbury

Kent

Drawn (rain)

k

† Canterbury

Kent  (45 overs)

Won 8 w

l

§ Nottingham

South Africa (1st ODI)

Won 57 r

m

§ Lord's

England (2nd ODI)

Lost 36 r

n

§ Lord's

England (ODI Final)

Won 5 w

o

Southampton

Hampshire

Won 5 w

p

THE OVAL

ENGLAND Test Match

WON 10 w

q

† Wormsley

J Paul Getty's XII

Drawn

 

 

 

† not first-class

§  one-day international

 

 

Time spent in England before First Test: 

   47 days

(11 July  - 27 August)

 

 

 

 

 

Test appearances on tour

 

1 - Atapattu, Aravinda de Silva, Dharmasena, Jayasuriya, M Jayawardene,  Kaluwitharana, Muralitharan, Perera, Ranatunga, Tillekeratne, Wickremasinghe.

0 -  Arnold, Bandaratilleke, Chandana, Hathurusinghe, P Jayawardene, Pushpakumara, Villavarayen.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

de Silva played for a Rest of the World XI in the Princess Diana memorial one-day game at Lord's.

 

 

 

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

R P Arnold

 

x

x

x

 

x

x

 

 

 

x

 

o

 

x

 

x

M S Atapattu

 

x

x

 

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

o

o

o

 

T

 

M Bandaratilleke

 

x

 

 

 

 

x

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

x

 

x

UDU Chandana

 

 

x

 

x

 

x

x

 

 

 

 

 

o

x

 

x

P A de Silva

 

 

 

x

x

 

x

x

x

x

x

o

o

o

 

T

x

K Dharmasena

 

x

 

 

x

x

 

x

x

x

x

o

o

o

 

T

 

C Hathurusinghe

 

x

x

x

x

x

x

 

x

x

x

o

o

 

x

 

 

S T Jayasuriya

 

x

x

x

x

x

 

x

x

x

 

o

o

o

x

T

x

M Jayawardene

 

x

 

x

x

x

x

 

x

x

x

o

 

 

x

T

x

P Jayawardene

 

 

x

x

 

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

 

x

R Kaluwitharana

 

x

 

 

x

x

 

x

x

x

x

o

o

o

 

T

 

M Muralitharan

 

 

x

x

 

 

 

x

 

x

x

o

o

o

 

T

x

A S A Perera

 

 

 

x

x

x

x

 

x

x

x

o

o

o

 

T

x

R Pushpakumara

 

 

x

 

x

x

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

 

 

A Ranatunga

 

 

x

x

x

 

 

x

x

 

 

o

o

o

 

T

x

H Tillekeratne

 

x

x

x

 

x

x

x

 

x

x

 

 

o

x

T

x

M S Villavarayan

 

x

x

 

 

x

x

 

 

x

x

 

 

 

x

 

x

P Wickremasinghe

 

x

 

x

 

 

 

x

x

 

 

o

o

o

x

T

 

   R E S U L T S

A

D

L

W

W

D

W

W

W

D

W

W

L

W

W

W

D

 

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights

 

  Sri Lanka's 591 was their second highest Test total after their world record of 952 for 6 declared against India.

  Sanath Jayasuriya's 213  was the fifth century of his Test career

  Aravinda De Silva scored 152, his fourth score of more than 150 in a Test.

  Muttiah Muralitharan took 16 for 220, the 5th best Test bowling figures of all-time, at The Oval

 In the second innings Murali took 9 wickets for 65 runs.

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Summary

 

 

 F

W

L

D

Aban

Test Matches

  1

  1

0

0

-

Other first-class matches

  5

  2

1

2

-

ϯ Minor matches

  8

  5

0

2

1

§ One-day internationals

  3

  2

1

0

-

All Matches

17

10

2

4

1

 

 

 

 

F  Fixtures   W  Won   L  Lost   D Drawn   T  Tied  Canc  Cancelled  Aban  abandoned

 

 

 

 

Return to Sri Lanka

London  Q  Colombo

 

The team left Heathrow Airport on 3 September on Air Lanka flight UL504 and arrived home at Bandaranaike International Airport (Katunayake) on the morning of 4 September 1998.

 

.

 

Time away from Sri Lanka       

    57 days  

(9 July  to 4 September)

 

 

 

Postscript

 

 

 

 

 

Other Test tours in 1998

 

 

Australians 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

 

 




Powered by Create