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.
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
RHBOB
ODI
D B Kuruppu
Bf'd
26
RHBopener
ODI
G F Labrooy
CCC
23
RFM
ODI
R S Madugalle
NCC
28
RHBcaptain
ODI
R S Mahanama
CCC
21
RHB opener
ODI
C P H Ramanayake
T U
23
RFM
ODI
A Ranatunga
SSC
24
LHBvice-captain
ODI
J Ravi Ratnayeke
NCC
27
LHBRFM
ODI
M A R Samarasekara
BRC
26
RHB
ODI
H P Tillekeratne
NCC
20
LHB
ODI
Average
age ofteam 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,
SLAslow 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.
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
ColomboQPerth
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.
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.
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)