Tour of Sri Lanka 2000-01         Captain : Nasser Hussain         

England’s 83rd Test tour.

    (January - March 2001)

First Test playing tour of Sri Lanka by England

   (previous tour 1992-93)

This was the first time England had come from behind to win a three-Test series since 1888. It gave England their fourth Test series win in a row: against Zimbabwe and West Indies at home in 2000, and on the 2000-01 tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. So England, hoping to avoid defeat in very tough conditions, overcame the odds to win both winter series, the success often being attributed to the self-belief coming from the partnership between coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Nasser Hussain.

After losing the first Test match comprehensively by an innings England won the next two Tests by relatively narrow margins, the batting feats of Hussain and Thorpe matched by the bowling of Gough, Caddick and Giles.

The cricket was overshadowed at Kandy by clashes between the players and controversy over umpiring decisions. Jayasuriya threw his helmet on being given out caught to a bump ball and was given a fine of 60 per cent of his match fee by the match referee and a 4-match suspended ban. Atherton and Sangakkara were also reprimanded.

The tour ended on a down note with a resurgent Sri Lanka proving too strong and outplaying England in all three one-day internationals. But in Test match terms it had been England’s best winter tour for many years.

All England tours

Previous Test tour

Pakistan 2000-01

Next Test tour

India 2001-02

Next tour of  Sri Lanka

2003-04

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Opening batsmen:  Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart, Marcus Trescothick

Middle-order batsmen Graeme Hick, Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe, Michael Vaughan

Wicket-keeper: Paul Nixon

Slow bowlers: Ashley Giles, Jason Brown, Robert Croft

Fast bowlers: Andy Caddick, Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard, Craig White

In March 2000 twelve six-month long central contracts were awarded by the ECB:

Nasser Hussain (capt)

Michael Atherton

Andrew Caddick

Andrew Flintoff

Darren Gough

Dean Headley

Graeme Hick

Mark Ramprakash

Chris Schofield

Alec Stewart

Michael Vaughan

Craig White

County representation:

Ex  -  Essex (1)

Gm - Glamorgan (1)

Kt  -  Kent (1)

La - Lancashire (1)

Nth - Northamptonshire (1)

Sm - Somerset (2)

Sy - Surrey (2)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Wo - Worcestershire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(22 February 2001): 

30  yrs  4 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Atherton 105,  Stewart 105,  Hick 63,  Thorpe 63,  Hussain 56,  Gough 46,  Caddick 40,  Croft 17,  White 15,  Vaughan 8,  Trescothick 6,  Giles 4,  Hoggard 1,  Brown 0,  Nixon 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

David Graveney (chairman),  Duncan Fletcher (coach),  Nasser Hussain (captain)

Selection

Not considered:   Dominic Cork (back injury),  Steve Harmison (injured)

Tour Party Announced  :  18 December 2000

Matthew Hoggard was standing-by for the ODI squad in case Alan Mullally failed a fitness test on his rib injury

Not selected:   Ian Salisbury.

Time between selection and departure from England

   43 days

 (18 December - 30 January)

Travel

London  Q   Colombo

Jason Brown joined the tourists assembling in London from the Caribbean where he was playing for England A.

The team flew from London’s Heathrow Airport on Tuesday 30 January and arrived in Colombo at 4 am next morning and were conveyed to the official hosting hotel, the Taj Samudra.

When the one-day players arrived, it was learned that Flintoff had a ligament strain and was in danger of being sent back home again.

Time spent in Sri Lanka

    56 days

(31 January  -  28 March)

On-tour selection panel

Duncan Fletcher and Nasser Hussain.

Reinforcements

Nasser Hussain strained his right thigh and had to return to England at the end of the Test series so Thorpe took over the captaincy for the limited-overs matches.

On 16 March Michael Vaughan was added to the one-day squad.

Fixtures/Results

England asked for the three-day match versus the Colts XI at Kurunegala to be reduced to 50 overs owing to a lot of injuries in the England side

† not first-class

Time spent in Sri Lanka before First Test:   

   22 days

(31 January - 22 February)

Test appearances on tour

3  -   Atherton,  Caddick,  Croft,  Giles,  Gough,  Hussain,  Stewart,  Thorpe,  Trescothick,  White.

2  -   Hick

1  -   Vaughan

0  -   Brown,  Hoggard,  Nixon.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

⊕ T/20 international

 W won  L lost  D drawn

N no result   A abandoned

u unknown result

Highlights

•  Marcus Trescothick’s century (122) could not prevent Sri Lanka from winning the first Test by an innings.

•  Darren Gough was Man of the Match in England’s victory at Kandy with 4-50 and 4-73.

•  Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe rescued the innings with a 3rd wicket partnership of 165 at Kandy

•  Hussain’s century (109) was his first for England since Durban 14 months before

•  In the third Test Graham Thorpe made a century (113) while Ashley Giles (4-11) was the key bowler

Tour Summary

Return to England

Colombo  Q London

At the end of the Test series Atherton, Brown, Hoggard and Nixon flew back to England, along with Hussain who was injured. They arrived home on 20 March.

The one-day squad arrived back in England on 29 March

Time away from England

  58 days  

(30 January - 29 March)

Finances

 -

Accounts of the tour

  -

Postscript

At the end of the tour the England & Wales Cricket Board launched its National Strategy for making England the top-ranked Test match team in the world and winning the ICC World Cup by 2007.

There was considerable dissatisfaction among the players with umpiring decisions throughout this series which contributed to the demand to use technology to aid the umpires, and prevent mistakes.

Another change presaged by this series was the use of separate one-day and Test squads. Duncan Fletcher felt that the Sri Lanka series was lost 3-0 because England did not have time to regroup or prepare players properly for one-day series. He also believed that England did not play enough one-day cricket