Tour of Sri Lanka & Zimbabwe 1999-2000       Captain: Steve Waugh

69th Test tour

Second Test-playing tour of Sri Lanka by Australia

(August - October 1999)

Sri Lanka won their first series victory against Australia. The hosts won the first Test in Kandy by six wickets, a match in which Jason Gillespie fractured his right leg and injured his wrist in an on-field collision with Steve Waugh, who broke his nose. The second and third Tests were then badly disrupted by rain and both drawn so that Sri Lanka took the series..

Shane Warne and Steve Waugh raised $84 000 by auctioning cricket gear for a one year-old boy in Bulawayo

PAGE  IN  PREPARATION
 

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

West Indies 1998-99

Next tour

New Zealand 1999-2000

Next tour of Sri Lanka

2003-04

Next tour of Zimbabwe

scheduled for 2001-02 but cancelled

Members of the Test tour party  (15  + 2))

Opening batsmen:  Michael Slater, Greg Blewett, Matthew Hayden

Middle-order batsmen:Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Simon Katich

Wicket-keeper:  Ian Healy

Spin bowlers: Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill, Colin Miller

Fast bowlers:  Damien Fleming,   Jason Gillespie (replaced by Scott Muller and Matthew Nicholson), Glenn McGrath.

State representation

1998-99 Sheffield Shield teams

N   New South Wales (5)

Q  Queensland (2)

S   South Australia (2)

T   Tasmania (2)

V   Victoria (2)

W  Western Australia (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(9 September 1999) :  29 yrs  8 months

ODI - Member of the squad for one-day internationals

(S) in Sri Lanka (Aiwa Cup) and (Z) in Zimbabwe

Test Appearances made before the tour

Healy 115,  SR Waugh 115,  ME Waugh 90,  Warne 71,  McGrath 49,  Slater 49,  Blewett 34,  Ponting 24,  Langer 20,  Gillespie 13,  MacGill 12,  Fleming 10,  Hayden 7,  Miller 7,  Katich 0   [Muller 0,  Nicholson 1]

Tour Officials

On 24 August the Australian Cricket Board announced that Geoff Marsh was resigning at the end of the Sri Lanka section of the tour and return to his farm in Western Australia to spend more time with his family. He would however, join the selectors, bringing the size of the panel up to 4 members

On 8 September Allan Border was confirmed as interim coach for the Zimbabwe leg of tour.  Border had previously taken over temporarily as coach from Marsh in 1998 for ten days in Sharjah.

Selectors

Trevor Hohns (chairman),  Allan Border,  Andrew Hilditch.

The Australian Cricket Board appointed Geoff Marsh to the selection panel in September 1999 but he was only consulted as coach for this touring squad.

Selection

Unavailable: 

Tour Party Announced:  13 July 1999

Time between selection and departure from Australia      

 34 days

(13 July -  16 August)

Travel

?   Q  Colombo

Colombo  Q  Hong Kong   Q  Harare

The Australian High Commission in Colombo assured the Australian Cricket Board that security was satisfactory for the tour to go ahead despite a bomb blast in Colombo that killed a Tamil politician.

Arrived in Colombo on Tuesday night 17  August.

The team arrived in Harare on Thursday 7 October after a marathon 38-hour flight through five countries

Time spent in Sri Lanka

   50 days

(17 August  - 6 October)

and Zimbabwe

(6 October - )

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

Simon Katich contracted a virulent strain of chicken pox and on 23 September was sent back to Colombo to be put in quarantine. He did not leave his room for ten days He also developed glandular fever, suffering chronic fatigue through the rest of the tour and back in Australia in November/December

Scott Muller replaced Jason Gillespie when he broke his leg in collison with Steve Waugh at Kandy. Both players  were taken by helicopter to hospital in Colombo. Gillespie was flown back to Adelaide on 18 September for assessment at the Wakefield Sports Centre.

Scott Muller needed stitches to heal a split in the webbing of his right hand only four days after arriving in Sri Lanka and then damaged the ring finger on his left hand during fielding practice. He arrived home on 4 October.  He was replaced by  Matthew Nicholson who flew out of Melbourne on Wednesday 6 October to link up with the rest of the Australian squad in Hong Kong, where they were en route from Sri Lanka to Zimbabwe.

Fixtures/Results

  (SSC)  Sinhalese Sports Club   (RPS)  R Premadasa Stadium   (CCC)  Colombo Cricket Club

† not first-class

§  one-day internationals (Aiwa Cup in Sri Lanka;

Time spent in Sri Lanka before First Test:     23 days

(17 August - 9 September)

Test appearances on tour

v  Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe

4  -   Blewett,  Healy,  Langer,  McGrath,  Miller,  Ponting,  Slater,  Warne,  M E Waugh,  SR Waugh.

3  -   Fleming.

1  -   Gillespie.

0  -   Hayden,  Katich,  MacGill.

Highlights

•   Ricky Ponting struck an unbeaten 105 in the first innings at Kandy

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Tour Summary

Return to Australia

Harare   Q  Sydney

Jason Gillespie flew back to Adelaide on 18 September.  Scott Muller, also injured, went home on 4 October.

Hayden, Katich and MacGill did not play in Zimbabwe

The team left Colombo on 6 October and flew by way of Hong Kong from Sri Lanka to Zimbabwe.  On 4 October Geoff Marsh ended his post as coach and returned to Australia.

Western Australian representatives Tom Moody, Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn left for the ODI matches in Zimbabwe on 16 October while Justin Langer, Simon Katich and Matthew Nicholson returned to Perth on Wednesday 20 October.

The tour ended on 25 October

Time away from Australia

  x days  

(16 August -  October)

Finances

Foxtel sponsored the touring team.   Their sports network Fox Sports Australia televised the Tests and one-day internationals from Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Written accounts of the tour

……..

Postscript

John Buchanan took over the post of coach in late October 1999 in succession to Geoff Marsh.