Test Cricket Tours - Sri Lanka to India 1997-98

Test Cricket Tours - Sri Lanka to India 1997-98

Tour of India 1997-98                  Captain: Arjuna Ranatunga

© Test Cricket Tours

Twenty-first Sri Lankan Test tour
(November - December 1997)

Fifth Test-playing tour of India by Sri Lanka
   (previous tour 1993-94)

The Sri Lankans, although they did not win a Test match, managed to come through the series against India unbeaten by drawing the three Test matches. For the first time on a tour of India they came back unscathed. On the previous tour Sri Lanka had lost each of the three Test matches by an innings with more than a day remaining. It was a split tour. The Sri Lankans spent ten days back home because the Indians were were committed to participating in three games in Sharjah for the Champions Trophy.
The Indian tour was preceded by the Wills Quadrangular trophy arranged by the Pakistan Cricket Board to celebrate the country's fiftieth year of Independence.

Other Sri Lankan Tours

Previous tour:
To West Indies 1996-97

Next tour
To South Africa 1997-98

Next tour of India
2005-06

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen: Marvan Atapattu, Dulip Samaraweera, Sanath Jayasuriya
Middle-order batsmen:Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillekeratne, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold.
Wicket-keeper/batsman: Lanka Silva.
Spin bowlers: Kumar Dharmasena, Muttiah Muralitharan, Jayantha Silva
Fast bowlers: Sajeewa de Silva, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Chaminda Vaas, Pramodya Wickremasinghe.

R P Arnold
NCC
24
LHB
ODI (P) (In)

M S Atapattu
SSC
27
RHB opener
ODI (P) (In)

K S C de Silva
NCC
26
RFM
ODI (P) (In)

P A de Silva
NCC
32
RHB vice-captain
ODI (P)

H D K Dharmasena
Bf'd
28
OB
ODI (P) (In)

S T Jayasuriya
Bf'd
28
LHB opener   SLA
ODI (P) (In)

M D Jayawardene
SSC
20
RHB
ODI       (In)

R S Mahanama
Bf'd
31
RHB
ODI (P) (In)

M Muralitharan
T U
25
OB
ODI (P) (In)

K R Pushpakumara
NCC
22
RFM

A Ranatunga
SSC
33
LHB    captain
ODI (P) (In)

K J Silva
SSC
24
SLA

S K L Silva
CCC
22
RHB     WK
ODI (P)

H P Tillekeratne
NCC
30
LHB
ODI (P) (In)

C U Vaas
Ct
23
LFM
ODI (P) (In)

G P Wickremasinghe
SSC
26
RFM
ODI        (In)

The following appeared only in the
U D U Chandana
ODI (P) (In)
one- day international series
R S Kaluwitharana
ODI        (In)

D K Liyanage
ODI (P)

Average age of team at time of first Test match
(19 November 1997) :
   26 yrs 10 months.

Club representation
B'fd: Bloomfield (3)
CCC: Colombo (1)
Ct: Colts Cricket Club (1)
NCC: Nondescripts (5)
SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club (5)
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 one-day international squads: (P) Wills quadrangular in Pakistan (In) in India.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Arjuna Ranatunga 71, Aravinda de Silva 63, Mahanama 45, Tillekeratne 43, Muralitharan 32, Jayasuriya 27, Wickremasinghe 24, Vaas 20, Dharmasena 15, Pushpakumara 12, Atapattu 9, KSC de Silva 5, Jayantha Silva 5, Arnold 3, Jayawardene 2, Lanka Silva 0,

Tour Officials

Duleep Mendis
Manager
Bruce Yardley
Coach
Alex Kountouri
Physiotherapist

Selectors

L R D Mendis (chairman), R L Dias, D S deSilva, F S Ahangama, A L F de Mel, T B Kehelguwuma, K M Nelson.

Selection

Not considered: Nuwan Zoysa (back injury).

Tour Party Announced : 7 November 1997.
Fast bowler Wickremasinghe was a late selection when it became evident that the Indians were preparing seaming pitches for the Test matches.

Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka
6 days
(7 November to 13 November)

Travel

Colombo Q

The team left the island on Tuesday 28 October 1997 to play in the Wills Quadrangular tournament in Lahore to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan's Independence. The final was played in Lahore on 8 November. The Sri Lankans left Karachi on Monday 10 November for Colombo and three days’ rest before embarking on their tour of India.
After three Test matches there they returned home for a ten-day break.
The team flew back to India on 19 December 1997 for the one-day internationals, Roshan Kaluwitharana taking the wicket-keeping place from Lanka de Silva who lost form and had a minor injury.

Time spent in India
   x days
(arrival - depart Host)

On-tour selection panel

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

Reinforcements

None. Upul Chandana and Romesh Kaluwitharana (wicket-keeper) joined the team when it returned for the one-day internationals. Arnold, Lanka de Silva, Pushpakumara and Jayantha Silva stayed home, not being required for the one-day series.

Fixtures/Results

w
§ Lahore
West Indies (Wills quadrangular)
Won 7 w
x
§ Lahore
Pakistan (Wills quadrangular)
Won 8 w
y
§ Lahore
South Africa (Wills quadrangular)
Lost 66 r
z
§ Lahore
South Africa (Wills quadrangular final)
Lost 4 w

a
† Baroda
Indian XI (40-over benefit match)
Lost 4 w
b
Cuttack
Board President's XI
Drawn
c
MOHALI
INDIA   First Test
DRAWN
d
NAGPUR
INDIA   Second Test
DRAWN
e
MUMBAI
INDIA   Third Test
DRAWN

f
§ Guwahati
India (1st ODI)
Lost 7 w
g
§ Indore
India (2nd ODI)
No result
h
† Indore
India XI (exhibition - 25 overs)
Won 2 r
i
§ Margao
India (3rd ODI)
Won 5 w

† not first-class
§ one-day international

Time spent in before First Test:
x days
(arrival - 1st Test)

Test appearances on tour

3 - Atapattu, Aravinda de Silva, SKL de Silva, Jayasuriya, Mahanama, Ranatunga, Tillekeratne, Vaas
2 - Dharmasena, Muralitharan, Pushpakumara
1 - K S C de Silva, Jayantha Silva, Wickremasinghe
0 - Arnold, M Jayawardene.

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

P A K I S T A N

I N D I A Tests

I N D I A   ODIs

w
x
y
z

a
b
c
d
e

f
g
h
i
RP Arnold

o

x

MS Atapattu
o
o
o
o

x
T
T
T

o

x
o
U Chandana

o

o
o
x

KSC de Silva
o
o
o
o

x
T

o
o
x
o
PA de Silva
o
o
o
o

x

T
T
T

o
o

o
SKL de Silva
o
o
o
o

x
x
T
T
T

K Dharmasena
o
o
o
o

x
x
T

T

o
o
x
o
ST Jayasuriya
o
o

o

x
x
T
T
T

o
o
x
o
M Jayawardene

x

x

R Kaluwitharana

o
o
x
o
D K Liyanage

o

RS Mahanama
o
o
o
o

x

T
T
T

o
o

o
M Muralitharan
o
o

o

x

T
T

o
o
x
o
R Pushpakumara

x
x

T
T

x

A Ranatunga
o
o
o
o

x

T
T
T

o
o

o
KJ Silva

x

T

HP Tillekeratne
o
o
o
o

x
x
T
T
T

o
x
o
CU Vaas
o
o

o

x

T
T
T

o
o
x
o
P Wickremasinghe

x
x

T

   R E S U L T S
W
W
L
L

L
D
D
D
D

L
N
W
W

Highlights

• Marvan Atapattu scored his maiden Test century (108) at Chandigarh and followed up with an innings of 98 at
•
•

Tour Summary

F
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
3
0
0
3
-
Other first-class matches
1
0
0
1
-
ϯ Minor matches
2
1
1
0
-
§ One-day internationals
3
1
1
1
-
All Matches
9
2
2
5
-

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

Return to Sri Lanka
Goa    Q Colombo

Liyanage was a member of the one-day squad to Pakistan but did not take part in the Indian tour.

After the third Test in Mumbai, the Sri Lanka team departed to Colombo on Monday 8 December, returning to India on 19 December for the ODI series. After the last one-day match they flew home from Goa on 29 December 1997.

.

Time away from Sri Lanka
          x days
(depart to 8 December
(19 December - 29 December)

Postscript

Other Test tours in 1997-98

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