Test Cricket Tours - Sri Lanka to Zimbabwe 2003-04
Tour of Zimbabwe 2003-04Captain: Marvan Atapattu
Thirty-second Test tour
Third official Test-playing tour of Zimbabwe by Sri Lanka
(April-May 2004)
Marvan Attapattu succeeded Hashan Tillekeratne as captain for this one-sided mismatch of a series that soon led to Zimbabwe withdrawing from Test cricket.
Already hopelessly weakened by the gradual loss of most of its leading players in the previous three years, the Zimbabwe Board now sacked 15 white players before the series began. It was inevitable that Sri Lanka would win both Tests and all five one-day internationals.The margin of victory in each Test match was greater than an innings and 200 runs
Muralitharan had undergone testing at the University of Western Australia biomechanics lab and was approved to bowl again. He overhauled Courtney Walsh's record of Test 519 wickets during the series and was feted on return to Colombo.
The Sri Lankans suffered from poor facilities and felt the Zimbabwe Board were giving more attention to dealing with their players' revolt than organising their tour facilities well.
Sri Lanka Cricket secured the services of Australian John Dyson from September 2003 as national team coach
Selectors
Lalith Kaluperuma (Chairman), Aravinda de Silva, Jayantha Paranathala and Roger Wijesuriya.
Selection
Unavailable:Prabath Nissanka (hamstring).At first Nuwan Zoysa (injured leg muscle) and Dilhara Fernando (stress fractures in back) looked unlikely to be fit to tour.
On 30 March the selectors named a pool of 22 to begin training on 4 April :
MS Atapattu, ST Jayasuriya, KC Sangakkara, M Jayawardene, TM Dilshan, TT Samaraweera, RP Arnold, U Chandana, CU Vaas, DNT Zoysa, CRD Fernando, M Muralitharan,S Jayantha, N Kulasekera, R Herath, T Kandamby, F Maharoof, P Jayawardene, I Daniel, DA Gunawardene, C Gamage, K Lokuarachchi.
On 1 April 2004 Marvan Atapattu was named as captain. On 7 April a 16-man squad for the five one-day matches was announced.
Test party announced : 25 April 2004.
The squad for the Test series was announced after a three-day practice game, adding Samaraweera,Daniel andJayawardene to the squad. On 29 April, the names of three players who would return home after the ODI series were announced.
Not selected:Skipper Hashan Tillekeratne; spin bowler Kaushal Lokuarachchi
Tillakaratne indicated that he wanted to continue playing Test cricket.
Time between selection of one-day squad and departure from Sri Lanka
9 days
(7 April to 16 April)
Travel
The Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Deputy Minister visited Sri Lanka Cricket HQ to wish the team well prior to their departure on the afternoon of 16 April 2004.
On Saturday 17 April the Sri Lankan team arrived in Bulawayo.
The 3 additional Test players (Thilan Samaraweera, Ian Daniel, and Prasanna Jayawardene)left Sri Lanka on Monday 26 April and arrived in Harare early on Tuesday 27 April.
Time spent in Zimbabwe
33 days
(17 April - 20 May)
On-tour selection panel
Lalith Kaluperuma (Chairman of selectors and selector-on-tour), Marvan Atapattu, John Dyson
Reinforcements
None
Fixtures/Results
a
§ Bulawayo
Zimbabwe 1st ODI
Won 12 r
b
§ Bulawayo
Zimbabwe 2nd ODI
Won 9 w
c
§ Harare
Zimbabwe 3rd ODI
Won 9 w
d
§ Harare
Zimbabwe 4th ODI
Won 72 r
e
§ Harare
Zimbabwe 5th ODI
Won 25 r
f
Harare (TSC)
Zimbabwe A(3 day)
Drawn
g
HARARE
ZIMBABWEFirst Test
WON inns 140 r
h
BULAWAYO
ZIMBABWESecond Test
WON inns 254 r
� not first-class
§one-day international
Time spent in Zimbabwe before First Test:
19 days
(17 April - 6 May)
TSC Played at Takashinga Sports Club, Highfield, Harare
Russel Arnold, Saman Jayantha and Nuwan Kulasekara returned to Sri Lanka at the end of the five-match one-day series.
After ten hours of flying from Zimbabwe on an Emirates Airlines jumbo, the Test party touched down at Bandaranaike International Airport at 4 pm on 20 May.They were welcomed by Government officials at the Airport and in honour of Muralitharan's achievement were given a motorcade to Sri Lanka Cricket headquarters. It took more than four hours for the procession to reach Maitland Place.