Sri Lanka in England, May/Jul 1979 - Tour Summary

Sri Lanka in England, 1979

Note: Sri Lanka were at this time still associate members of  the
ICC. These tour matches were part of Sri Lanka's visit to England
for the 1979 World Cup.

Managed by Major-General Russell Heyn, the team  despatched  from
the  capable  cricket  organisation  of  Sri Lanka reinforced the
country's claim for promotion from associate ICC membership  with
their  achievements  both in and outside the Prudential World Cup
competition. Highlights of  Sri  Lanka's participation  in   this
tournament  were winning the ICC trophy in the final of the asso-
ciate members qualifying competition, and then, in the Prudential
Cup itself, the spirited victory over India at Old Trafford.

The Sri Lankan's tour of England, Scotland and Ireland  had  been
given little advance publicity in the British Isles, yet at Trent
Bridge, prior to the Prudential Cup, they served early notice  of
their  potential  with  a  creditable  286 in their first innings
against Nottinghamshire. Later, their bowlers found Todd  in  de-
vastating   form,  and  the  home  team's pace attack of Rice and
Hadlee was too much in the second innings.

After the Prudential Cup, the team's performances in five matches
against counties were never less than first-class in both batting
and bowling, and the latter was supported by enthusiastic  field-
ing.  A  feature  was  the team's consistency, with no individual
pre-eminent. Although some high team totals were compiled,  there
was  only  one century against a first-class county - by the cap-
tain, A.P.B. Tennekoon, against Kent in the imposing total of 400
for   nine   declared.   Not often opening the innings, Tennekoon
did this time and displayed an array of all-round strokes  befit-
ting a player  who participated in the Sri Lankan record partner-
ship of 426. As short as the rest of a  uniformly   small   team,
he,   like  many of the batsmen, was capable of playing a forcing
innings and was also a competent, calm leader.  At  the  age   of
32,   Tennekoon  made  a  distinctive contribution to Sri Lanka's
performances, both as captain and batsman.

The younger co-holder of that 426 partnership, B. Warnapura,  was
not so prominent except in the defeat of Oxford University and in
the important  first  innings  against  Worcestershire.   Opening
bats-  man  S.R.  de S. Wettimuny, leading scorer in the win over
India, was rather overshadowed for the remainder  of  the   tour,
whereas  R.S.  Madugalle,  aged  20 and primarily an off-spinner,
made an im- pact with batting of spirit and skill -  86   against
Derbyshire, followed straightaway by 88 against Kent.

Throughout R.L. Dias provided steadiness and elegance, while in a
contigent  containing four wicket-keepers the principal one, S.A.
Jayasinghe,  batted  with  vigour  and  the  second  one,  R.S.A.
Jayasekera,  played  important innings against Worcestershire and
Glamorgan. Most consistent batsman of  all, arguably  with   Ten-
nekoon,  was  R.D.  Mendis,  a reserve wicket-keeper who had been
prominent in the Prudential Cup and was Man of the Match  against
India.  Against Susex he hit four boundaries in one over from Ar-
nold.

There was probably no surprise  at  the  depth  of  the  batting,
remembering  Sri  Lanka's 276 for 4 against Australia at The Oval
in 1975, but there was at the quality of the bowling.  This   was
almost monopolised by two unrelated de Silvas - G.R.A., left-arm,
and D.S., both bowling accurate, flighted spinners. Their respec-
tive  match  figures  of  seven for 97 (including six for 30) and
twelve for 59 (including eight for 46) demolished Oxford  Univer-
sity  and  represented the best bowling perofmrances of the tour.
D.S. de Silva, benefitting from four year's experience in English
league  cricket, was also the leading all-rounder. He batted con-
fidently for 76 against both Kent and Glamorgan,  and  in  almost
each  match  approached,  or took, five wickets (five in each in-
nings against Sussex) with his medium-pace leg-spinners.

An all-rounder of promise was S.P. Pasqual, who scored  the  only
other  century of the tour, against Ireland. D.L.S. de Silva sup-
ported the bowling with medium pace; A.R.M.  Opatha, of   similar
style,  and  another  with  English league experience, was rather
more effective. To have been even  more penetrative,  Sri   Lanka
needed a genuinely fast bowler, but nevertheless Tennekoon's team
was one of indubitable talent and temperament.

This and other reports on this tour are from the 1980 Wisden.
 Contributed by cp  (help@cricinfo.com)