| Tour of Pakistan & Bangladesh 1998-99 Captain: H Tillakaratne | |
| | First Asian Test Championship | © Test Cricket Tours | |
| Sri Lanka’s twenty-fourth Test tour (March 1999) Fifth Test-playing tour of Pakistan by Sri Lanka (previous tour Pakistan 1995-96) | Sri Lanka reached the final of the first Asian Test championship but lost to Pakistan. Leading players Sanath Jayasuriya and Arjuna Ranatunga were unavailable for the championship final at Dhaka and Sri Lanka lost by an innings. This tour took the team to three countries: to Lahore in Pakistan to play the match against Pakistan (a dead match because it was already decided that Sri Lanka were through to the final); then to Dhaka in Bangladesh for the final on neutral territory; and then to India to play four ODIs for Pepsi Cup.
| Other Sri Lankan Tours Previous tour To England 1998 Next tour To Zimbabwe 1999-00 Next tour of Pakistan 1999-00 | |
| ⋆Members of the Test tour party (14 + 2) Opening batsmen Russel Arnold, Avishka Gunawardene Middle-order batsmen: Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Hashan Tillakaratne, Chandika Hathurusinghe Wicket-keeper: Romesh Kaluwitharana Spin bowlers: Upul Chandana, Niroshan Bandaratilleke, Ruwan Kalpage Fast bowlers: Suresh Perera, Pramodya Wickremasinghe, Ruchira Perera, Sajeewa de Silva | R P Arnold | NCC | 25 | LHB opener | ODI | | M S Atapattu | SSC | 28 | RHB | ODI | | M N Bandaratilleke | T U | 23 | SLA | | | U D U Chandana | T U | 26 | RHB LB | ODI | | K S C de Silva | NCC | 28 | LFM | | | D A Gunawardene | SSC | 21 | LHB opener | ODI | | U C Hathurusinghe | Ms | 30 | RHB | ODI | | D M Jayawardene | SSC | 21 | RHB vice-captain | ODI | | R S Kalpage | NCC | 29 | OB | ODI | | R S Kaluwitharana | Ct | 29 | RHB WK | | | A S A Perera | SSC | 21 | RFM | | | R L Perera | SSC | 21 | LMF | | | H P Tillakeratne | NCC | 31 | LHB deputy captain | ODI | | G P Wickremasinghe | SSC | 27 | RFM | ODI | | Members of the ODI squad | H D Boteju | ODI | | P A de Silva | ODI | | P W Jayawardene | ODI | | A Ranatunga | ODI | | K E A Upashantha | ODI | | C U Vaas | ODI |
|  Average age of team at time of first Test match (4 March 1999) : 25 yrs 10 months. Club representation B'fd: Bloomfield, CCC: Colombo, Ct: Colts Cricket Club G Galle Ku: Kurunegala, Ms : Moors NCC: Nondescripts, SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club, TU: Tamil Union 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 15 members of the one-day squad for the Pepsi Cup matches in India | |
| Test Appearances made before the tour | de Silva 75, Tillakaratne 54, Wickremasinghe 31, Vaas 27, Hathurusingha 25, Kaluwitharana 25, Atapattu 21, Kalpage 10, Jayawardene 7, K de Silva 6, Bandaratilleke 3, Arnold 4, Ruchira Perera 1, Suresh Perera 1, Chandana 0, Gunawardene 0 | | |
| Tour Officials | Ranjith Fernando | Manager | Roy Dias | Coach |
In mid-tour the BCCSL re-instated Duleep Mendis as cricket manager and D S de Silva as a bowling coach for the triangular tournament in India. Fernando remained as tour manager and Roy Dias a s coach. | | |
| Selectors | L R D Mendis (chairman), A L F de Mel, T B Kehelguwuma, K M Nelson. | | |
| Selection | Unavailable:, Arjuna Ranatunga (hamstring pulled batting in the Test in Colombo) replaced as captain by Aravinda de Silva (but he then pulled a groin muscle). Hashan Tillekeratne took the captaincy for Pakistan. Sanath Jayasuriya had a fractured right arm and needed metal plate inserted above his right wrist after being struck during an ODI in Australia; Muttiah Muralitharan was unfit. Tour Party Announced : 1 March 1999. Not selected: Eric Upashantha was rested. | Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka x days (1 March to depart Sri) | |
| Travel Colombo Q Lahore | To Lahore without de Silva and Vaas. Arrived at Zia International Airport, Dhaka, on 10 March. Twelve cricketers and three officials arrived from Lahore at 9.40am and two (de Silva and Vaas) from Colombo at 12.30. | | |
| On-tour selection panel | Hashan Tillekeratne, Mahela Jayawardene, Ranjith Fernando, Roy Dias | | |
| Reinforcements (2) | Suresh Perera and Bandaratilleke went home when Aravinda de Silva and Chaminda Vaaswere able to rejoin the team in Bangladesh. Arjuna Ranatunga took over as captain in India. Hemantha Boteju and Eric Upashantha joined the team for the Pepsi Cup matches in India for which Jayasuriya (cracked bone on his right arm), Muralitharan (rotator cuff operation to his right shoulder) and Vaas (fever) were unavailable. | | |
| Fixtures/Results | a | LAHORE | PAKISTAN Test Match | DRAWN | b | DHAKA | PAKISTAN Test Match | LOST inns 175 r | | | | | c | § Jamshedpur | Pakistan (1st ODI) | Lost 9 r | d | § Nagpur | India (2nd ODI) | Lost 80 r | e | § Vishakhpatnam | Pakistan (3rd ODI) | Won 12 r | f | § Pune | India (4th ODI) | Lost 51 r |
| � not first-class § one-day international (Pepsi Cup) Time spent in Pakistan before First Test: x days (arrival - 4 March) | |
| Test appearances on tour (in the two Asian Championship Tests v Pakistan 1998-99) | 2 - Arnold, Atapattu, K.S.C.de Silva, Gunawardene, Jayawardene, Kaluwitharana, Tillekeratne, Wickremasinghe. 1 - Bandaratilleke, Chandana, Aravinda de Silva, Hathurusinghe, Kalpage, Vaas. 0 - Ruchira Perera, Suresh Perera. | | |
| 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 | R P Arnold | T | T | | o | | | M S Atapattu | T | T | o | | o | o | M N Bandaratilleke | T | | | | | | U D U Chandana | | T | o | o | o | o | K S C de Silva | T | T | | | | | D A Gunawardene | T | T | o | o | o | o | U C Hathurusinghe | T | | o | | | | D M Jayawardene | T | T | o | o | o | o | R S Kalpage | T | | o | o | o | o | R S Kaluwitharana | T | T | | | | | A S A Perera | | | | | | | R L Perera | | | | | | | H P Tillakeratne | T | T | o | o | o | o | G P Wickremasinghe | T | T | o | o | o | o | H D Boteju | | | | o | o | | P A de Silva | | T | o | o | o | o | P W Jayawardene | | | | | | | A Ranatunga | | | o | o | o | o | K E A Upashantha | | | | | o | o | C U Vaas | | T | o | o | | o | R E S U L T S | D | L | L | L | W | L |
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| Highlights | • N | | |
| Tour Summary | | F | W | L | D | Aban | Test Matches | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | Other first-class matches | 0 | - | - | - | - | ϯ Minor matches | 0 | - | - | - | - | § One-day internationals | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | - | All Matches | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | - |
| F Fixtures W Won L Lost D Drawn T Tied Canc Cancelled Aban abandoned | |
| Return to Sri Lanka Dhaka Q Jamshedpur Mumbai QColombo | Dhaka Test ends 15 March Then went to India to play four ODIs for Pepsi Cup?? Play Pakistan at Jamshedpur 19 March Last match at Pune ends 30 March 1999 | Time away from Sri Lanka x days (depart to 20 March ) | |
| Postscript | | | |
| Other Test tours in 1998-99 | 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 | |