Test Cricket Tours Sri Lanka to Australia 1987-88

Test Cricket Tours - Sri Lanka to Australia 1987-88

Tour of Australia 1987-88             Captain: Ranjan Madugalle

© Test Cricket Tours

Sri Lanka’s seventh Test tour

(December 1987 -
        February 1988)

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

After criticism of Sri Lanka's performance in the 1987 World Cup, Duleep Mendis resigned the captaincy and made himself unavailable for selection. Having been captain since 1982, he needed a break from the tension of international cricket to devote more time to family and his business interests. Ranjan Madugalle was appointed skipper for the Benson & Hedges one-day international series in Australia and the tour's solitary Test match.
Only eight members of the 1987 World Cup squad were taken to Australia. Sri Lanka's most experienced batsman apart from Mendis, Roy Dias, was dropped. Instead he successfully skippered the Sri Lankan 'B' team in Zimbabwe. Coach Don Smith spoke out against the poor fielding in the World Cup when the selectors had opted for experience. Chief selector Ian Pieris said he was now looking for youth, fitness and good fielding.
The Sri Lankans were being deprived at this time of competitive domestic cricket because of political turmoil at home. The socialist JVP (or People's Liberation Front) launched an insurrection against the ruling United National Party which brought chaos to the south at the same time as the Government was fighting the LTTE in the north. 1987 was the "Year of the Bomb" and during the Insurgency 1987-91 Sri Lanka undertook 17 overseas tours (for ODIs as well as Tests) but hosted not a single team visiting the island.
The two four-day games played in Australia on this tour provided inadequate preparation for a Test match and the batsmen were clearly unused to building long innings. During the 1987-88 winter Sri Lanka played 14 ODIs but only this solitary Test. The Australian authorities were right in doubting that the Sri Lankans would attract paying spectators; the Perth Test saw the lowest attendance at a Test match in Australia for 100 years. On a poor pitch, they lost heavily.

Other Sri Lankan Tours

Previous tour
India 1986-87

Next tour
To England 1988

Next Australian tour
1989-90

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen: Roshan Mahanama, Asanka Gurusinha, Brendon Kuruppu, Athula Samarasekera.
Middle-order batsmen: Aravinda de Silva, Ranjan Madugalle, Asanka Gurusinha, Arjuna Ranatunga.
Wicket-keeper:Guy de Alwis
Spinners: Asoka de Silva, Sridharan Jeganathan, Sanath Kaluperuma.
Fast bowlers:  Kaushik Amalean, Ravi Ratnayeke, Graeme Labrooy, Champaka Ramanayake

K N Amalean
CCC
22
RFM
ODI

R G de Alwis
SSC
28
WK
ODI

E A R de Silva
NCC
31
LB
ODI

P A de Silva
NCC
22
RHB
ODI

A P Gurusinha
SSC
21
LHB
ODI

S Jeganathan
NCC
36
SLA
ODI

S M S Kaluperuma
Bf'd
26
RHB   OB
ODI

D B Kuruppu
Bf'd
26
RHB opener
ODI

G F Labrooy
CCC
23
RFM
ODI

R S Madugalle
NCC
28
RHB    captain
ODI

R S Mahanama
CCC
21
RHB opener
ODI

C P H Ramanayake
T U
23
RFM
ODI

A Ranatunga
SSC
24
LHB    vice-captain
ODI

J Ravi Ratnayeke
NCC
27
LHB   RFM
ODI

M A R Samarasekara
BRC
26
RHB
ODI

H P Tillekeratne
NCC
20
LHB
ODI


Average age of team at time of first Test match
(12 February 1988) :
      25 yrs 8 month

Representation of clubs :
B'fd: Bloomfield (2)
BRC: Burgher Recreation Club (1)
CCC: Colombo (3)
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

Ranatunga 22, Madugalle 19, Ravi Ratnayeke 18, PA de Silva 13, de Alwis 10, Gurusinha 7, EAR de Silva 5, Kaluperuma 3, Mahanama 3, Jeganathan 2, Amalean 1, Kuruppu 1, Labrooy 1, Ramanayake 0, Samarasekera 0,   Tillekeratne 0.

Tour Officials

M A H Fuard
Manager
E R Fernando
Assistant manager

Manager Abu Fuard, who missed the 1987 World Cup, took over from previous manager Nisal Seneratne, now that his health was restored. Fernando took over the coaching duties from Don Smith.

Selectors

Ian Pieris (chairman)), Ranjith Fernando …..
The team manager, coach and captain were consulted but not included in the selection meeting.

Selection

Unavailable : Duleep Mendis (see above), FS Ahangama (ill), Sidath Wettimuny (retired).
Ranjan Madugalle was appointed captain on 13 November 1987.
Tour Party Announced : 17 November 1987. Next day Vincent Perera, the Sports Minister, ratified the squad.
Not selected : From the World Cup team, de Mel, Dias, John, Rumesh and Anurasiri were gone.
Stand-bys: Don Anurasiri, Kapila Wijegunawardene, Ashley de Silva, Uvais Karnain.

Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka
  34 days
(17 November to 21 December)

Travel
Colombo Q Perth

The team had a 50-over practice match (Combined XI v Sri Lanka XI) at Colombo Cricket Club on 15 December 1987 and then continued to take part in Lakspray Trophy matches.
Departure from Colombo was on Monday 21 December 1987 from Katunayeke International Airport, Colombo. The team arrived in Perth two days before Christmas.

Time spent in Australia
   57 days
(23 December - 18 February)

On-tour selection panel

Abu Fuard, Ranjith Fernando, Ranjan Madugalle, Arjuna Ranatunga.

Reinforcements

None. Samarasekara injured an ankle against Tasmania.

Fixtures/Results

a
� Perth
Western Australia (d /n)
Won 61 r
b
� Perth
Western Australia (two-day)
Drawn
c
� Mandurah
W.Australia Country XI
Won 143 r
d
§ Perth
Australia (1st ODI)
Lost 81 r
e
§ Sydney
New Zealand (2nd ODI)
Lost 6 w
f
§ Adelaide
New Zealand (3rd ODI)
Lost 4 w
g
§ Adelaide
Australia (4th ODI)
Lost 81 r
h
§ Hobart
New Zealand (5th ODI)
Won 4 w
i
§ Melbourne
Australia (6th ODI)
Lost 38 r
j
§ Brisbane
New Zealand (7th ODI)
Lost 4 w
k
§ Sydney
Australia (8th ODI)
Lost 3 w
l
Hobart
Tasmania
Drawn
m
� Canberra
Australian Country XI
Won 14 r
n
� Alice
Northern Territory Invitation XI
Won 115 r
o
� Alice
South Australia
Lost 6 w
p
� Bendigo
Victorian Country XI
Won 110 r
q
Melbourne
Victoria
Drawn
r
PERTH
AUSTRALIA Test Match
LOST inns 108 r

� not first-class
§ one-day international

Time spent in Australia before Test: Match
51 days
(23 December - 12 February)

Test appearances on tour

1 - Amalean, de Alwis, Aravinda de Silva, Kaluperuma, Kuruppu, Labrooy, Madugalle, Mahanama, Ramanayake, Ranatunga, Ravi Ratnayeke
0 - E A R (Asoka) de Silva, Gurusinha, Jeganathan, Samarasekera, Tillekeratne.

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
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
K N Amalean
x
x

o

x
x
x
x

T
R G de Alwis
x
x

o
o

o
o
o
o
o

x
x
x
x
T
E A R de Silva
x
x
x

o
o
o
o

x
x

x

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

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

S Jeganathan

x

o

x

x

S Kaluperuma

x

o
x
x
x
x
x

T
D B P Kuruppu

x
x

o
o
o
o
o
o
x
x
x
x
x
x
T
G F Labrooy
x
x
x
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
x
x

x
x
x
T
R S Madugalle
x

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
x
x

x
x
x
T
R S Mahanama
x

x
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
x
x

x
x
T
C Ramanayake

x
x
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
x

x
x
x
x
T
A Ranatunga
x
x
x
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
x
x
x
x

x
T
J Ravi Ratnayeke
x

x
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

x

x
T
A Samarasekara

x

o

o

x

x

H P Tillekeratne
x
x

o
o

x
x
x

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

Highlights

• N

Tour Summary

F
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
1
0
1
0
-
Other first-class matches
2
0
0
2
-
ϯ Minor matches
7
5
1
1
-
§ One-day internationals
8
1
7
0
-
All Matches
18
6
9
3
-

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

Return to Sri Lanka

Perth   Q Colombo

After the Perth Test, the tour party returned in two batches: ten members returned via Kuala Lumpur and Singapore on 18 February (Fernando, Mahanama, Tillekeratne, Kuruppu, Samarasekera, Asoka de Silva, Amalean, Ramanayake, Kaluperuma). Eight members returned via Singapore on Saturday 20 February (Fuard, Madugalle, Ranatunga, de Alwis, Aravinda, Labrooy, Jeganathan, Ratnayeke)

The team were then to go to Bangladesh for the Asia Cup series, to be played between 22-28 February, but the tournament was cancelled because of political unrest.

.

Time away from Sri Lanka
   61 days
(21 December to 20 February)

Other Test tours in 1987-88

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