100 years of cricket between England and Sri Lanka (1882-1982)
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Sri Lanka's inaugural Test match was played at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium against England in 1982 and the toss coin of the inaugural Test
In the autumn of 1882 a team of cricketers from England captained by Hon. Ivo Bligh left on a tour to Australia. The historic significance of this tour was the pledge by the captain to bring back the Ashes of English cricket following the obituary which had been published when Australia defeated England at the Oval during the 1882 English season.
The England team set out from home in two groups and sailed to Ceylon, where they played a match – the first of its round – against a local side. This match played on 13 and 14 of October ended in a draw. Batting first Ivo Bligh’s team scored 155 in the first innings and the Ceylon team scored 92 in the first innings and 16 for the loss of 7 wickets in the second innings.
In the autumn of 1889 a team of cricketers under the captaincy of G.F. Vernon left England for the Indian subcontinent. Although the standard of cricket in India by that time, was rapidly improving, within regard to the Matrvi Indian sides and to the cricket played by the Europeans in India, the quality of cricket in Ceylon was not so high. But English teams calling there on the way to Australia could be in no doubt as to the enthusiasm of the population for the game.
In addition to the matches played in India, Vernon’s team played two matches in Ceylon and won both. In the first match played on 28, 29, 30 November, Vernon’s team scored 350 and the Ceylon team replied with 155 and 118. Hence Vernon’s team won by an innings and 77 runs. In the second match played on 6, 7 December Vernon’s team scored 194 and the Ceylon team scored 103 in the first innings and 81 in the second. Vernon’s team therefore won by an innings and 10 runs.
Captained by the legendary Dr. W.G. Grace, Lord Sheffield’s team came to Ceylon in 1891 a notable feature of the Ceylon team was that it had 22 players. Played on 27 October this match ended in a draw. Lord Sheffield’s team scored 143 but the Ceylon team could manage only 70 runs.
The next team to come to Ceylon was Lord Hawke’s team. They came in 1892 and played two matches. The first played on 11, 12 November was drawn and the second played on 14, 15 were won by the Hawke’s team by 120 runs. A.E. Stoddart’s team came in 1894 and played a match on 16 October and won in by 18 runs.
The team that visited Ceylon in 1911 was named as MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club). In fact all teams from England from then onwards until 1982, have been named as MCC. The MCC team of 1911 was captained by A.F. Warner and they played only one match which they won by 18 runs. From 1911 up to 1952 MCC have visited 12 times and on all these occasions they have played only one match per visit. Out of all those 12 matches 10 were restricted to day one matches. This led to the accusation that they were using the visit to Ceylon to get some practice ahead of their Australian tour. Some went as far as to say that since in those days they sailed to Australia, they stopped in Ceylon in order to stretch their legs. Whatever the reason a visit from a team of cricketers from England has always created widespread interest among the lovers of the game. Out of the 12 matches MCC played between 1911 and 1952, they won three and the rest were drawn.
1952 was a very important year in the history of cricket between England and Ceylon. That year MCC played four matches and one of those, the very first, was against a very strong Commonwealth team. Included in the Commonwealth team were Keith Miller and Neil Harvey (Australia), M.H. Mankad and P.R. Umrigar (India), Fazal Mahmood and Imtiaz Ahmed (Pakistan). The honour of captaining the Commonwealth team in this match went to F.C. de Saram of Ceylon. By scoring 135 runs for the Commonwealth team in this match C.I. Gunasekera became the first Lankan to score a century against a visiting team from England.
The Commonwealth team scored 517 runs in the first innings. In addition to C.I. Gunasekera, Keith Miller also scored a century (106) and Neil Harvey scored 74. MCC in their first innings scored 103 and in the second innings 155, thereby loosing by an innings and 259 runs.
However, the MCC won the other three matches of this tour by wide margins. In the second match played against Ceylon, MCC Scored 270 runs for the loss of 4 wickets and Ceylon could score only 58 in the first innings and 179 in the second. Hence MCC won by an innings and 33 runs. Tom Graveney scored an unbeaten century for the MCC. The third match was against Central Province. This match played in Kandy was won by MCC by an innings and 29 runs. It is interesting to note that Tom Graveney scored a century in this match also. MCC also won the forth match, against Galle Gymkhana Club by 6 wickets.
MCC came again in 1954 and their team was captained by Len Hutton. This time they played only one match which was drawn. From 1954 up to 1982 MCC have visited Ceylon nine times and have played 20 matches since of these were limited over matches and Ceylon won two of them.
Out of the balance 14 that were not limited over matches, two were abandoned due to rain and eight were drawn, MCC won the remaining four. This means that out of the 20 matches played between 1954 and 1982 Ceylon/Sri Lanka could not win any of those, apart from the two limited over matches they won.
In 1962 MCC captained by E.R. Dexter played three matches. The first match played against the Ceylon Cricket Association (Colombo) was drawn. In the first innings MCC scored 257 (Dexter 74) and in the second 159. In the first innings C.I. Gunasekera took five wickets for 61 runs and in the second innings Neil Chanmugam took 5 wickets for 43 runs. In the first innings Ceylon scored 253 runs and in the second 20 without loss. H.I.K. Fernando’s contribution in the first innings was 79. The second match of this tour was played at Radella against an Upcountry team and MCC won this by 10 wickets. The third and final match which was played against Ceylon ended in an 8-wicket victory for the MCC.
Colin Cowdrey was the captain when MCC toured Ceylon and played four matches in 1969. The first three played against Ceylon Board President’s XI were limited over matches and Ceylon won the first game on faster scoring rate. MCC scored 236 for 6 wickets and Board President’s XI replied with 234 for 7 wickets.
In the second match MCC scored 192 for 5 wickets and Board President XI, 174. Hence MCC winning by 18 runs. The third limited over match was played in Kandy against Central Province XI. MCC won this match by 61 runs. MCC scored 246 for 6 wickets and Central Province 185. The final match played against Ceylon ended in a draw. Ceylon scored 283 for 9 wickets in the first innings and 118 without loss in the second innings. MCC replied with 406 for 4 declared. A highlight of the Sri Lanka innings was Anura Tennekoon’s well compiled 101. For the MCC J.H. Edrich and T.W. Graweney scored centuries and Keith Fletcher scored 81. Those who were lucky to watch Tennekoon’s innings would agree that it was one of the best innings ever played by a Lankan batsman against a visiting team. In the second innings Buddy Reid (50) and Ranjit Fernando (54) put on an unbroken partnership of 118 thereby ensuring a draw. Those who saw these two battling against the world’s best bowlers at that time will also agree that it is one of the best partnership by a pair of Sri Lankan opening batsman.
The MCC team captained by Tony Greig toured Sri Lanka in 1977 and they also played four matches. The first one which was a limited over match was won by MCC by 23 runs. MCC scored 201 for 6 and Sri Lanka replied with 178 for 7 helped by a well complied 58 by Bandula Warnapura. The second, which was a two-day match played in Galle against Board President’s XI, ended in a draw with President’s XI scoring 238 and MCC replying with 154 for 3. Jerry Woutersz (53) was the main contributor to the Board President’s XI. The third, a 4-day match played against Sri Lanka also ended in a draw. MCC in their first innings scored 360 for 6 declared and in the second innings 99 for 3 declared Sri Lanka replied with 151 and 210 for 6. In Sri Lanka’s second innings Bandula Warnapura scored 69 and Anura Tennakoon was unlucky to miss his century by just three runs. The fourth match of this tour was a limited over match played against Sri Lanka. MCC scored 123 and Sri Lanka replied with 124 for 7. Sri Lanka therefore won by 3 wickets.
Sri Lanka was granted Test status in 1981. The first official Test match between England and Sri Lanka was played at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium on 17 February 1982. Apart from the Test match, the England team captained by Keith Fletcher, played three more matches.
The first match of the tour captained by Fletcher was against Sri Lanka Board President XI in Kandy. President’s XI in the first innings Scored 273 for 5 wickets and in the second innings 125 for 6 in the first innings Ranjan Madugalle scored 142 and Bernand Perera was unbeaten with 56. England in the first innings scored 360 hence the match was drawn. The second match was a Limited Over match against Sri Lanka. England scored 211 runs. The main contributors were Graham Gooch (64) and Ian Botham (60). Sri Lanka scored 206 for 8 helped largely by a valuable knock of 51 by Anura Ranasinghe. Hence England won by just 5 runs. The third match was also a limited over match in reply to Sri Lanka’s total of 215 for 7 England could manage only 212 runs Sri Lanka therefore winning by 3 runs. For Sri Lanka Sidath Wettimuny scored an unbeaten 86 and Graham Gooch scored 74 for England.
The fourth match was the inaugural Test match between the two countries. Sri Lanka was captained by Bandula Warnapura. Sri Lanka lost but by no means disgraced. This defeat was mainly due to Sri Lanka batting crumbling to the English spinners. Arjuna Ranatunga and Ranjan Madugalle who were later to captain Sri Lanka played two fine innings making their debut.
Sri Lanka scored 218 in the first innings (R.S. Madugalle 65 A. Ranatunga 54, D.L. Underwood 5 for 28) and 175 in the second innings (Roy Dias 77, J.E. Emburey 6 for 33). England in the first innings scored 223 (D.I. Gower 89) and 171 for 3 in the second innings (C.J. Tavare 86). Sri Lanka therefore lost by 7 wickets.
O.T. Perera in London