Test Cricket Tours Sri Lanka to South Africa 1997-98

Test Cricket Tours - Sri Lanka to South Africa 1997-98

Tour of South Africa 1997-98            Captain: Arjuna Ranatunga

© Test Cricket Tours

Sri Lanka’s 22nd Test tour
(March - April 1998)

First Test-playing tour of South Africa by Sri Lanka
     (no previous tour)

It was Sri Lanka's first Test tour of South Africa, though they had visited before in 1994-95. The South African tour was something of a disaster. Sri Lanka lost the two Test matches, batting recklessly in the second Test, and then lost the first three one-dayers. Though two matches were then won, South Africa took the Standard Bank series comfortably. The ground fielding and catching was far below the standard the world champions had established when winning the World Cup.
At the end of the tour Bruce Yardley was sacked after 16 months in the post of coach.

Other Sri Lankan Tours

Previous tour
To India 1997-98

Next tour
To England 1998

Next tour of South Africa

Members of the Test tour party (16 + 1)

Opening batsmen: Roshan Mahanama, Marvan Atapattu, 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
ODI

U D U Chandana
T U
25
RHB       LB
ODI

K S C de Silva
NCC
27
RFM
ODI

P A de Silva
NCC
32
RHB vice-captain
ODI

H D K Dharmasena
Bf'd
26
OB
ODI

S T Jayasuriya
Bf'd
28
LHB    SLA
ODI

M D Jayawardene
SSC
20
RHB
ODI

R S Kaluwitharana
Ct
28
RHB   WK
ODI

R S Mahanama
Bf'd
31
RHB
ODI

M Muralitharan
T U
25
OB
ODI

K R Pushpakumara
NCC
22
RFM
ODI

A Ranatunga
SSC
34
LHB   captain
ODI

H P Tillekeratne
NCC
30
RHB   second WK

C U Vaas
Ct
24
LFM
ODI

G P Wickremasinghe
SSC
26
RFM
ODI



Average age of team at time of first Test match

(19 March 1998) :
    27 yrs 4 months

Key to clubs :
B'fd: Bloomfield (3)
Ct: Colts Cricket Club (2)
NCC: Nondescripts (5)
SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club (4)
TU: Tamil Union (2)

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 squad for the Standard Bank one-day international series

Test Appearances made before the tour

Arjuna Ranatunga 76, Aravinda de Silva 68, Mahanama 50, Tillekeratne 48, Muralitharan 36, Jayasuriya 32, Vaas 25, Wickremasinghe 25, Kaluwitharana 20, Dharmasena 17, Pushpakumara 16, Atapattu 14, Sajeewa de Silva 6, Arnold 3, Zoysa 3,   Jayawardene 2, Chandana 0.

Tour Officials

Duleep Mendis
Manager
Bruce Yardley
Coach
Alex Kountouri
Physiotherapist

Selectors

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

Selection

Unavailable: Nuwan Zoysa had a thigh injury.

Tour Party Announced : 23 February 1998.
There was a lack of promising youngsters in the tour selection but a reliance on old hands like Tillekeratne and Wickremasinghe.

Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka
8 days
(23 February to 3 March)

Travel
Colombo Q Singapore Q Johannesburg

The Sri Lankans held a practice camp before departure, including coaching about South African conditions from Barry Richards. They left Colombo on Tuesday 3 March and had a ten-hour flight from Singapore to Johannesburg. They had a light workout on Wednesday evening 4 March, the day they arrived.

Time spent in South Africa
   x days
4 March - 21? April)

On-tour selection panel

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

Reinforcements (1)

D N T Zoysa
SSC
19
LFM
ODI?

Nuwan Zoysa was flown in to Johannesburg on Wed 25 March because Chaminda Vaas suffered a right ankle injury in first Test. Vaas remained in South Africa for treatment after consulting a specialist in Pretoria.
Then Zoysa twisted a knee so Vaas was reckoned to be fit enough to play in the one-day series. He endured the pain and finally had his ankle operation at the end of the tour.
Ranatunga wanted fast bowler Mario Villavaryan to join the tour party. too, but the Board refused though the players even said they were willing to pool for the resources to get him there.

Fixtures/Results

When the Bloemfontein match ended early the South Africans arranged a double wicket tournament. Jayasuriya and de Silva refused to play. Derek Crookes and Lance Klusener beat Upul Chandana and Kumar Dharmasena.

a
Johannesburg
Gauteng (Transvaal)
Lost 118r
b
† Fochville
North West
Won 93 r
c
Paarl
Boland
Drawn
d
CAPE TOWN
SOUTH AFRICA First Test
LOST 70 r
e
CENTURION
SOUTH AFRICA Second Test
LOST 6 w
f
§ Johannesburg
South Africa (1st ODI)
Lost 57 r
g
§ Kimberley
Pakistan (2nd ODI)
Lost 4 w
h
§ Paarl
Pakistan (3rd ODI)
Lost 110 r
i
§ Paarl
South Africa (4th ODI)
Won 6 w
j
§ Benoni
Pakistan (5th ODI)
Won 115 r
k
§ Bloemfontein
South Africa (6th ODI)
Lost 5 w

† not first-class
§ one-day international

Time spent in South Africa before First Test:
    15 days
(4 March - 19 March)

Test appearances on tour

2 - Atapattu, Aravinda de Silva, Jayasuriya, Kaluwitharana, Mahanama, Muralitharan, Pushpakumara, Ranatunga, Tillekeratne, Wickremasinghe.
1 - Vaas, Zoysa.
0 - Arnold, Chandana, KSC de Silva, Dharmasena, 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

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
R P Arnold

x
x

M S Atapattu
x

x
T
T
o

o
o
o
UDU Chandana
x

x

o
o
o
o

o
K S C de Silva
x

x

o

P A de Silva

x
x
T
T
o
o
o
o
o
o
H D K Dharmasena

x
x

o
o
o
o
o
o
S T Jayasuriya
x
x

T
T
o
o
o
o
o
o
DPM Jayawardene
x
x

o
o

o

R S Kaluwitharana
x
x
x
T
T
o
o
o
o
o
o
R S Mahanama
x
x
x
T
T
o
o
o
o
o
o
M Muralitharan

x
x
T
T
o
o
o
o
o
o
K R Pushpakumara

x
x
T
T

o
o

A Ranatunga
x
x

T
T
o
o
o
o
o
o
H P Tillekeratne
x

x
T
T

C U Vaas
x
x

T

o
o

o
o
o
G Wickremasinghe
x

T
T
o

o
o
o
D N T Zoysa

T

    R E S U L T S
L
W
D
L
L
L
L
L
W
W
L

Highlights

• N

Tour Summary

F
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
2
0
2
0
-
Other first-class matches
2
0
1
1
-
ϯ Minor matches
1
1
0
0
-
§ One-day internationals
6
2
4
0
-
All Matches
11
3
7
1
-

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

Return to Sri Lanka
  Q Colombo

Monday 21 April 1998.

.

Time away from Sri Lanka    x days
(3 March - April)

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