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Asgiriya: memories are made of these
By Aubrey Kuruppu
With the second Sri Lanka-England test to be played in the hill capital two days hence, a look back at matches played at Asgiriya over the past twenty years is opportune. The Sri Lankans have enjoyed some highs and lows. There was one hastily rescheduled retreat after a particularly shattering defeat and also an occasion when the match 'stood still.'

April 1983
Greg Chappell's Aussies coasted to an innings and 38 run win. The visitors had five left-handers in the top six and the Sri Lankan selectors, in a moment of mental aberration, went in with two leg spinners.

Sri Lanka replied with 271 and 205 to Australia's 514- 4 declared. One still recalls the collective gasp from the crowd as Dennis Lillee worked out his run and in the space of his first five or six deliveries disposed of Sidath Wettimuny and Roy Dias. Of course, the former redeemed his reputation with a second innings ninety.

March 1984
The Sri Lankans is pursuit of a victory target of 262 were shot out for 97. The young Ranatunga stood all alone, reminiscent of the boy on the burning deck as Hadlee, Chatfield, Bracewell and Boock scythed through our wanted line up.

Come September 1985 and Kapil's Indians has visions of drawing level in the series by the end of day four. However that was reckoning without the skills of Dias and Mendis who both produced magnificent hundreds when the chips were down. Asgiriya was bursting at the seams, as it were, as the partnership grew in strength and stature.

Imran Khan's Pakistani's compiled a modest 230 in February 1986, but it was more than sufficient to beat the Sri Lankans by an innings and twenty runs. Ironically the Sri Lankans, weaned on spin, were undone by the spin magic of Abdul Qadir and Jusuf Ahmed. This was the test in which time stood still. Dias and Ranatunga, the batsmen, refused to continue amidst the cacophony surrounding them. Rule books were consulted and there were many goings and comings between pitch and pavilion before play resumed.

A seven year lapse and a 53 minute game. Sri Lanka 24-3 against India. This was when Asgiriya got tagged as the Manchester of Sri Lanka.

The much feared and widely admired Waqar demolished Sri Lanka for a mere 71 with his pace swing and toe-crushing yorkers. (Dharmasena will surely bear testimony to the latter!) An attacking hundred from Inzamam saw the Pakistanis to a total of 357-9 and a win by an innings and 52 runs. (August 1994).

The Sri Lankans registered their first test win at Asgiriya courtesy the latest entrants to the test fold, Zimbabwe, in January 1998. Marvan's concentration and elegance personified in compiling his double hundred. In a belated but slight show of defiance, the Zimbabweans snared Jayasuriya and another as the home team made 10-2 to win by 8 wickets.

September 1999 and Jayasuriya's men scored an exciting 6 wicket win over Steve Waugh's mighty world champions. The joint men of the match, Ponting and Aravinda, dominated and dazzled with their batting skills. Waugh and Gillespie were involved in a horrendous collision, and the Australian Skipper probably beheld his team's shambles from his hospital bed, bloodied nose and all!

A near 400 run opening partnership the first and best between them, by Jayasuriya and Atapattu, highlighted the test against Pakistan. Alas there was little else as the local Manchester lived up to its reputation. It is a moot point whether Prasanna Jayawardena, who neither batted nor kept wickets made his test debut! July 2000 and the South Africans won a cliff-hanger. The test quite a fascinating one was Ranatunga's farewell to this venue. He went out in style with a brilliant innings.

Hussain made a brave hundred but how his team huffed and puffed in pursuit of a very modest target. Muralitharan in tandem with Dharmasena almost brought home the bacon. That enigmatic genius, Brian Lara, blazed his way to a century and in the process crushed and even dominated Sri Lanka's main weapon. However, particularly inept batting by some of his inexperienced team-mates saw his team slide to defeat in less than two and a half sessions.

A Tendulkar-less India, was able to get the better of the Sri Lankans. Dravid was the corner-stone of the Indian batting, though Ganguly's near, unbeaten hundred second time round based his team towards the target. The Sri Lankans were left to rue some missed catches.

The Zimbabweans led by Stuart Carlisle were made to eat humble pie by Muralitharan who had an innings haul of nine wickets as he was tantalizingly on nine wickets at the end of the day, Muralitharan had the mortification of seeing a bat-pad chance off his bowling go a begging first thing next morning. With that went his chance of joining Laker and Kumble.

The New Zealanders, efficiently led by Flaming but sans the services of the mercurial Cairns, played out a draw in the last test played at Asgiriya a few months back. One felt that a more positive approach may have produced a win. However the Sri Lankans seemed to hold back from the brink. It was a classic case of nothing venture, nothing win.

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