Tour of Sri Lanka 2007-08                Captain : Michael Vaughan             

England’s 93rd Test tour.

(November - December 2007)

Fiifth Test playing tour of Sri Lanka by England

       (previous tour2003-04)

This was a split tour with the touring party flying home from Sri Lanka between a one-day series held in October, and a three-Test series in December.

Resolute second innings’ batting was needed in both of the next two Tests.

England followed on in the third Test, no less than 418 runs behind, but a century from Alastair Cook ensured the match was saved

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

Australia 2006-07

Next Test tour

New Zealand 2007-08

Next tour of  Sri Lanka

2011-12

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen:   Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan

Middle-order batsmen Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah

Wicket-keeper: Matt Prior, Phil Mustard

Slow bowlers: Monty Panesar, Graeme Swann

Fast bowlers: Matthew Hoggard, Jimmy Anderson, Steve Harmison, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom

On 10 September 2007 the ECB awarded central contracts to: Anderson, Bell, Collingwood, Cook, Flintoff, Harmison, Hoggard, Panesar, Pietersen, Sidebottom, Strauss and Vaughan.

Ashley Giles, Simon Jones and Marcus Trescothick were dropped from the list of contracted players.

County representation:

Dm - Durham (3)

Ex  -  Essex (2)

Ha - Hampshire (1)

La - Lancashire (1)

Mx - Middlesex (1)

Nth - Northamptonshire (1)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (3)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(1 December 2007): 

     26 yrs  11 months.

ODI  member of squad for the one-day internationals tour

Test Appearances made before the tour

Vaughan 70,  Hoggard 64,  Harmison 54,  Bell 30,  Pietersen 30,  Collingwood 27,  Cook 21,  Panesar 20,  Anderson 19,  Prior 7,  Sidebottom 7,  Shah 2,  Bopara 0,  Broad 0,  Mustard 0,  Swann 0.

Tour Officials

For the first time the chairman of selectors accompanied the team and was involved in selection (following recommendations of the Schofield Report)

Selectors

David Graveney (chairman of selectors), 

Selection

One-day party announced    10 September.

Withdrawn from ODIs :  Andrew Flintoff (to receive treatment to left ankle), Matt Prior (broken thumb).

Not considered:   On 25 July Marcus Trescothick said he would not be available for the winter tours;  Andrew Flintoff

Tour Party Announced  :  19 October 2007

Steve Harmison, recovering from a back injury, was not selected at first but would be added to the squad of fifteen if he proved his fitness by playing some matches for Lions in South Africa before the Test tour

Not selected:   Andrew Strauss (Mx ⋄),  Mark Ramprakash (Sy) who declined an offer to be the stand-by in case a ‘senior batsman’ were injured.

Time between selection and departure from England

   days

 (19 October - 16 November)

Travel

London  Q   Colombo

The one-day side came from the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa, arriving earlier than expected after being eliminated from the T20 competition

Arrived in Colombo after a ten-hour flight on Friday 16 November 2007.

Steve Harmison flew to Sri Lanka from South Africa on Tuesday 20 November

Time spent in Sri Lanka

    days

(16 November -  23 December)

On-tour selection panel

David Graveney (selector on tour),  Peter Moores (coach),  Michael Vaughan (captain).

Reinforcements

None

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in Sri Lanka before First Test:

  14 days

(16 November- 1 December)

Test appearances on tour

3  -    Bell,  Bopara,  Collingwood,  Cook,  Panesar,  Pietersen,  Prior,  Sidebottom,  Vaughan.

2  -    Harmison,  Hoggard, 

1  -    Anderson,  Broad, 

0  -    Mustard,  Swann,  Shah

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

In the first matches of both the one-day and Test sections of the tour, all members of the tour party took part

Highlights

•  Matthew Hoggard (4-29) in the first Test at Kandy.

•  Ian Bell’s innings of 83 and 74 at Kandy

•  Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook opened the two innings at Colombo with partnerships of 133 and 107

•  Alastair Cook scored 118 in six hours to save England from defeat as they followed-on in the third Test at Galle

Tour Summary

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

Return to England

Colombo  Q  London

The team flew back to England on 23 December 2007.

Time away from England

  37 days  

(16 November - 23 December)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

Postscript

Other Test tours in 2007-08

Australians to

Bangladesh to New Zealand 2007-08

England to Sri Lanka 2007-08

Indians to Australia 2007-08

New Zealanders to South Africa 2007-08

Pakistanis to India 2007-08

South Africans to Pakistan 2007-08

South Africans to Bangladesh and India 2007-08

Sri Lankans to Australia 2007-08

Sri Lankans to West Indies 2007-08

West Indians to South Africa 2007-08

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