Tour of Sri Lanka 2011             Captain: Michael Clarke

87th official Test tour

Fifth Test-playing tour of Sri Lanka by Australia

(August - September 2011)

The Australians made a Test tour of Sri Lanka for the first time since 2004 after taking advice from the Australian government. A TV documentary showing horrific evidence of torture and murder of civilians during the final months of the war with the Tamil Tigers, which ended in May 2009, had put the tour in doubt.

Tim Nielsen resigned at the end of the tour, learning that he would have to re-apply for his job as coach, as a result of the Argus Report, which also dismissed Greg Chappell from his post as selector.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

To India 2010-11

Next tour

South Africa 2011-12

Next tour of Sri Lanka

 None yet scheduled

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Opening batsmen  Phillip Hughes, Shane Watson.

Middle-order batsmen  Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh.

Wicket-keeper Brad Haddin

Spin bowlers   Nathan Lyon, Michael Beer

Fast bowlers  Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Trent Copeland, James Pattinson.

State representation

  Sheffield Shield teams

N   New South Wales (5)

Q  Queensland (2)

S   South Australia (2)

T   Tasmania (1)

V   Victoria (2)

W  Western Australia (3)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(29 September 2010) :

   yrs   months

ODI  member of squad for the one-day internationals

T20  member of squad for the T/20 internationals

Test Appearances made before the tour

 Ponting 152,   Clarke 69,  M Hussey 59,  Johnson 42,  Haddin 32,  Watson 27,  Siddle 22,  Hughes 10,  Harris 5,  Beer 1,  Khawaja 1,  Copeland 0,  Lyon 0,  Marsh 0,  Pattinson 0, 

Tour Officials

Gavin Dovey had worked for the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and served as team operations manager with England’s Rugby Football Union before taking over from Steve Bernard as team manager in April 2011.

Selectors

Andrew Hilditch (chairman),  David Boon,  Greg Chappell  and Jamie Cox

 David Boon stood down in mid-July after the Sri Lankan tour side was chosen.

Selection

Unavailable :  Nathan Hauritz (injured),  Pat Cummins (back strain)

Simon Katich was removed from Cricket Australia's 25-man list of contracted players.   Ryan Harris, who was unable to tour India because of ankle and knee injuries, was asked by the selectors to be ready to return to the Test attack.

One-day team announced :   The T20 and one-day squads were named on 6 July 2011.

Not selected  :  Shaun Tait (T20 squad), Cameron White (former vice-captain from ODI squad);

Test team announced:  26 July 2011.

Not selected:  Jason Krejza, Steve Smith, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Withdrawal  

Stand-bys 

Twenty20 squad - Shane Watson, David Warner, Brad Haddin, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, Steve O'Keefe, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, James Pattinson.

ODI squad  - Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Steven Smith, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Xavier Doherty, James Pattinson, Doug Bollinger.

Time between selection of the limited-overs squads and departure from Australia       24 days

(6 - 30 July

Travel   Q

A training camp took place in Brisbane

The Twenty20 players flew out on July 30 and the remaining one-day squad members departed Sydney Airport on 4 August

The Test-only players - Beer, Lyon, Copeland, Harris etc  -  arrived in Colmbo later in August.

Time spent in Sri Lanka

   x days

(31 July - 9 ? February)

On-tour selection

Michael Clarke (captain),  Tim Nielsen  (coach),  Greg Chappell (on-tour selector).

Reinforcements

David Warner was not part of the Test squad but was placed on stand-by when Ricky Ponting went home briefly after the first Test for the birth of his second child.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

⊕ T20 international

§  one-day international

Time spent in x before First Test: 

  x days

(31 July - 14 December)

Test appearances on tour

3  -   Clarke,  Copeland,  Haddin,  P Hughes,  M Hussey,  Johnson,  Lyon,  Watson

2  -   Harris,  Khawaja,  S Marsh,  Ponting

1  -   Siddle

0  -   Beer,  Pattinson.

Highlights

•   S

•   

•   

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

Q

(x to 15 May)

Finances

Sri Lankan Cricket, in debt after co-hosting the World Cup, budgeted 300 million rupees for the tour but the projected income was only 150 million rupees. The Board looked to keep expenses down, no longer distributing hundreds of free tickets or providing banquet meals for invitees.

Written accounts of the tour

……..

Post script

The Australians went on from their Sri Lankan tour to take on South Africa, the first time since 1969-70 that there had been back-to-back overseas Test tours without a break in between. This was a trend that would be likely only to increase. The team had to adjust from slower and lower sub-continental pitches to the greater pace and bounce found in South Africa.

In September 2011 Tim Nielsen stepped down as head coach of Australia's team after four years in the post.