Test Cricket Tours Sri Lanka to Australia 1989-90

Test Cricket Tours - Sri Lanka to Australia 1989-90

Tour of Australia 1989-90          Captain: Arjuna Ranatunga

© Test Cricket Tours

Sri Lanka’s ninth Test tour
(November 1989 -
          January 1990)

Second Test-playing tour of Australia by Sri Lanka
(previous tour 1987-88)

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.

Other Sri Lankan Tours

Previous tour
England 1988

Next tour
India 1990-91

Next Australian tour
1995-96

Members of the Test tour party (16 + 2)

Opening batsmen: Roshan Mahanama, Athula Samarasekera, Dammika Ranatunga.
Middle-order batsmen: Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Asanka Gurusinha.
Wicket-keeper:Gamini Wickremasinghe, Hashan Tillekeratne
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
RHB deputy 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
RHB opener

C P H Ramanayake
T U
24
RFM

A Ranatunga
SSC
26
LHB   captain

D Ranatunga
SSC
27
RHB opener

J Ravi Ratnayeke
NCC
29
LHB RFM vice captain

Rumesh J Ratnayeke
NCC
25
RFM

M A R Samarasekara
CCC
28
RHB opener,   RM

H P Tillekeratne
NCC
22
LHB second WK

A G D Wickremasinghe
NCC
23
WK

K I W Wijegunawardene
CCC
25
RM



Average age of team at time of first Test match
(8 December 1989) :
     25 yrs 10 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,
SLA slow 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
Colombo  Q  Canberra

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 Kalpage and 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
Lost inns 3 r
b
Adelaide
South Australia
Drawn
c
BRISBANE
AUSTRALIA First Test
DRAWN
d
HOBART
AUSTRALIA Second Test
LOST 173 r
e
� Melbourne
Victoria
Lost 109 r
f
� Hastings
Victoria Country XI
Lost 3 w
g
§ Melbourne
Australia (1st ODI)
Lost 30 r
h
§ Perth
Australia (2nd ODI)
Lost 9 w
i
§ Perth
Pakistan (3rd ODI)
Won 3 w
j
§ Melbourne
Australia (4th ODI)
Lost 73 r
k
Devonport
Tasmania
Drawn
l
� Adelaide
Australian Academy
Drawn
m
� Port Lincoln
S Australia Country XI
Won 35 r
n
� Bendigo
Australian Country XI
Drawn
o
� Coff's Harbour
New South Wales
Lost 81 r
p
� Grafton
NSW Country XI
Won 3 w
q
� Rockhampton
Queensland
Drawn
r
� Rockhampton
Queensland
Lost 5 r
s
� Caloundra
Queensland Country XI
Won 7 w
t
� Perth
Western Australia
Won 4 w
u
� Perth
Western Australia
Lost 65 r
v
� Brookton
W Australia Country XI
Won 63 r
w
§ Brisbane
Pakistan (5th ODI)
Lost 5 w
x
§ Hobart
Pakistan (6th ODI)
Lost 6 w
y
§ Adelaide
Pakistan (7th ODI)
Lost 27 r
z
§ Adelaide
Australia (8th ODI)
Lost 7 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,
1 - Rumesh Ratnayeke, Samarasekera, Tillekeratne, Gamini Wickremasinghe.
0 - Jayasuriya, Madurasinghe, Wijegunawardene.

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
a’
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
E A R de Silva

x
x
T
T
x
x
o

o
x
x

x
x

x
x
x

x
x
o
o
o
o
P A de Silva
x
x
x
T
T
x

o
o
o
o
x
x

x

x
x
x
x
x
o
o
o
o
A P Gurusinha
x
x
x
T
T
x
x
o
o
o
o

x
x
x
x
x

x
x
x
x
x
o
o
o
o
S T Jayasuriya
x
x
x

x
o
o
o
o
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
o

o
R Kalpage

x
x

B P Kuruppu

o
o
o
G F Labrooy
x

x
T
T

o
o
o
o
x

x

x

o
o

R Madur'singhe
x

x

x
x
x
x

x
x
x
x
x

x

o
R S Mahanama

x
x
T
T
x

o
o
o
o

x

x
x
x
x

x

o
o
o

C Ramanayake

x
T
T
x
x

x
x
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x

o

A Ranatunga
x
x

T
T
x

o
o
o
o

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
o
o
o
o
D Ranatunga
x
x
x
T
T
x

x

x
x

x
x
x
x

NLK Ratnayeke

x
x
x

x
x
o

J R Ratnayeke
x
x
x
T
T

x
o
o
o
o

x
x

x
x
x

R J Ratnayeke

x

T
x
x
o
o
o
o

x
x
x
o
o
o
o
A Sama'sekara
x

x
T

x
x
o
o
o
o
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x

x

o
o
o
o
H Tillekeratne
x

x

T
x
x
o
o
o
o
x
x

x
x
x
x
x

x
x

o
o
o
o
G Wick'singhe
x
x

T

x

x
x
x
x

x

x

K Wij'wardene

x

x
x

o
o

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

x

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

Highlights

• 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.

Tour Summary

F
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
2
0
1
1
-
Other first-class matches
4
0
1
3
-
ϯ Minor matches
13
5
5
3
-
§ One-day internationals
8
1
7
0
-
All Matches
27
6
14
7
-

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

Return to Sri Lanka
Q Colombo

Last match in Adelaide on 18 Feb 1990.

Time away from Sri Lanka
        x days
(13 November to arrive home)

Postscript

Other Test tours in 1989-90

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