Sri Lanka was starved of first-class cricket because of the political disturbances and unrest at home. The Sri Lankan Board, originally awarded a three-Test series until the Australian Board reduced it to a single Test to be held at the new Test venue of Hobart, complained that they could not develop without playing Test matches - and reminded Australia it had supported their elevation to Test cricket in 1981. Australia's Board, despite the likely financial loss, relented and arranged a second Test at Brisbane.
This was Sri Lanka's fourth tour of Australia and the longest to date with 27 matches in a hastily-rearranged schedule to which the Sri Lankans reluctantly agreed.
Ian Pieris, President of Sri Lanka's Board for Control, resigned his post when the Minister of Sports, Nanda Matthew, would not agree to Messrs Fuard and Fernando's appointments as officials for the tour. The Minister had wanted three names submitted for each post but the Board would not comply.
Former captain Madugalle was dropped from the Sri Lankan squad, so Arjuna Ranatunga became captain for the Nehru Cup and retained the job for the Australian tour.
Aravinda de Silva, acting captain in the match against Tasmania, was involved in a scuffle with the Tasmanian bowler Rod Tucker, for which he late apologised. The last minutes of the second Test match at Hobart were also spoiled by an unpleasant argument between Healy and Ratnayeke. After the match Ranatunga lodged an official protest about Australian sledging, saying racist comments had been made to his young batsmen, but he would not substantiate his allegations so nothing could be done about it.
Spin bowlers: Ranjith Madurasinghe, Asoka de Silva
Fast bowlers: Champaka Ramanayake, Graeme Labrooy, Kapila Wijegunawardene, Ravi Ratnayeke, Rumesh Ratnayeke
E A R de Silva
NCC
33
LB
P A de Silva
NCC
24
RHBdeputy captain
A P Gurusinha
NCC
23
LHB
S T Jayasuriya
CCC
20
LHB
G F Labrooy
CCC
25
RFM
A W R Madurasinghe
Ku
28
OB
R S Mahanama
CCC
23
RHBopener
C P H Ramanayake
T U
24
RFM
A Ranatunga
SSC
26
LHBcaptain
D Ranatunga
SSC
27
RHBopener
J Ravi Ratnayeke
NCC
29
LHBRFMvice captain
Rumesh J Ratnayeke
NCC
25
RFM
M A R Samarasekara
CCC
28
RHBopener,RM
H P Tillekeratne
NCC
22
LHBsecond WK
A G D Wickremasinghe
NCC
23
WK
K I W Wijegunawardene
CCC
25
RM
Average age ofteam at time of first Test match
(8 December 1989) :
25 yrs10 months
Representation of clubs :
CCC: Colombo (5)
Ku: Kurunegala Youth (1)
NCC: Nondescripts (6)
SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club (3)
TU: Tamil Union (1)
Key to type :
LHB left-hand bat,
LBG leg break and googly bowler,
OB off break,
SLAslow left-arm bowler,
RFM right arm fast medium bowler
Test Appearances made before the tour
A Ranatunga 24, Ravi Ratnayeke 20, PA de Silva 15, Rumesh Ratnayeke 14, Gurusinha 7, Asoka de Silva 5, Mahanama 4, Kuruppu 3, Labrooy 3, Ramanayeke 2, Madurasinghe 1, Samarasekera 1, Jayasuriya 0, Kalpage 0, D Ranatunga 0, Tillekeratne 0, Wickremasinghe 0, Wijegunawardene 0.
Tour Officials
Nisal Seneratne
Manager
Anura Polonowita.
Assistant manager
Geoffrey Saulez
Scorer
The Board's Executive Committee appointed Abu Fuard and Ranjith Fernando as the management team in September 1989. When their names were not approved by the Sports Ministry they informed the Cricket Board they were no longer available.The Committee met again on 29 October and agreed on the choice of Seneratne and Polonowita.
Nisal Seneratne was the Sri Lankan Board secretary in two spells of three years each. He was team manager in England when Test status was gained in 1981 and again in the 1987 World Cup.
Selectors
Anura Tennekoon (chairman),Ranjith Fernando,Michael Tissera and Mumtaz Yusuf.
Selection
Ranatunga was announced as captain on 2 November.
Unavailable-
Tour Party Announced : 6 November 1989.
Not selected :Duleep Mendis
Stand-bys:Ashley de Silva (CCC),Brendon Kuruppu (BRC),Ruwan Kalpage (NCC),Nilantha Ratnayeke (SSC).
Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka
7 days
(6 to 13 November)
Travel
ColomboQCanberra
Sri Lankan participation in the Nehru Cup ended on 27 October and they returned to Sri Lanka on 1 November.
The touring party flew from Colombo via Singapore on the morning of Monday 13 November and arrived in Canberra on Tuesday 14 November.
Time spent in Australia
x days
(14 November - depart Host)
On-tour selection panel
Reinforcements (2)
R S Kalpage
NCC
29
OB
N Ratnayeke
SSC
20
RMF
Ruwan S Kalpageand Nilantha Ratnayeke, a fast-medium bowler on a scholarship from the Sri Lankan Cricket Foundation to play grade cricket in Melbourne, joined the team to play against the Australian Academy at Adelaide.
Brendon Kuruppu (BRC), 27, was brought in for the later stages of the one-day series.
Fixtures/Results
a
Canberra
New South Wales
Drawn
a’
Sale, Melbourne
Victoria
Lostinns 3 r
b
Adelaide
South Australia
Drawn
c
BRISBANE
AUSTRALIAFirst Test
DRAWN
d
HOBART
AUSTRALIASecond Test
LOST173 r
e
� Melbourne
Victoria
Lost109 r
f
� Hastings
Victoria Country XI
Lost3 w
g
§ Melbourne
Australia (1st ODI)
Lost30 r
h
§ Perth
Australia (2nd ODI)
Lost9 w
i
§ Perth
Pakistan (3rd ODI)
Won3 w
j
§ Melbourne
Australia (4th ODI)
Lost73 r
k
Devonport
Tasmania
Drawn
l
� Adelaide
Australian Academy
Drawn
m
� Port Lincoln
S Australia Country XI
Won35 r
n
� Bendigo
Australian Country XI
Drawn
o
� Coff's Harbour
New South Wales
Lost81 r
p
� Grafton
NSW Country XI
Won3 w
q
� Rockhampton
Queensland
Drawn
r
� Rockhampton
Queensland
Lost5 r
s
� Caloundra
Queensland Country XI
Won7 w
t
� Perth
Western Australia
Won4 w
u
� Perth
Western Australia
Lost65 r
v
� Brookton
W Australia Country XI
Won63 r
w
§ Brisbane
Pakistan (5th ODI)
Lost5 w
x
§ Hobart
Pakistan (6th ODI)
Lost6 w
y
§ Adelaide
Pakistan (7th ODI)
Lost27 r
z
§ Adelaide
Australia (8th ODI)
Lost7 w
� not first-class
§one-day international
Time spent in Australia before First Test:
24 days
(14 November - 8 December)
Test appearances on tour
2 -Aravinda de Silva, Asoka de Silva, Gurusinha, Labrooy, Mahanama, Ramanayake, Arjuna Ranatunga, Dhammika Ranatunga, Ravi Ratnayeke,
• Aravinda de Silva made Sri Lanka's third highest Test score of 167 at Brisbane and shared a national 7th wicket record partnership of with Ravi Ratnayeke.
• Rumesh Ratneyeke took 6 wickets for 66 runs at Hobart.
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.
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)