Australia in Sri Lanka, Aug-Sep 1992 - Tour Summary
Australia in Sri Lanka
Australia had a disappointing yet satisfying tour in
that although they lost the one-day series 2:1 they were
happy to win the test series 1:0 after being in serious
trouble in the first test. The series victory was one of
very few away victories achieved by the Australian team in
the last twenty years. Two other first class matches were
undertaken, the first against a board eleven was interrupted
by rain and neither side completed their first innings. The
second match against Southern Province XI was also drawn but
three full days play was achieved.
It was unfortunate for the Australians that the first
and only first class match before the internationals was
restricted by rain. Against the Board XI the Australians
batted first and guided by Mark Waugh's 74 and McDermott's
58 no out declared at 9-278 during the sporadic outbreaks of
play. Perhaps in a sign of things to come Duleep Liyange
took 3 for 55. The Board XI made 6 for 296 before the match
was called off. Test batsmen Roshan Mahanama made 82, Asanka
Gurusinha 47, Jayasuriya 51 and Atapattu 64 not out. Whitney
took 3 for 53 and Matthews 2-59. Australia was ambushed in
the second match of the tour which was the first one-dayer.
Suffering from a lack of cricket (or too much in some of the
bastmen's cases) Australia was beaten by 4 wickets. The
first test was the next match on the tour and it was only
Sri Lanka's inexperience that cost them the match. The
second first class non-test match was next, batting first
Australia scored 9 for 312, Mark Waugh made 118 and Ian
Healy 78 not out. Damien Martyn finally played a game on
tour and made a good 61.Mike Whitney took 4 for 54 and Tony
Dodemaide 3 for 19 as the Southern Province crashed for 164.
Atapattu made runs again with 35 and A. de Silva 34.
Australia batted poorly in the second innings, being
dismissed for 204, unfortunately not with enough time for a
result. David Boon made 57, Border 45 and Mark Waugh 38,
those being his last first class runs of the tour. Southern
Province was 2 for 34 after 21 overs were bowled in their
second innings, McDermott took 1 wicket as did Tony
Dodemaide, with Boon having none for 4 from his 3 overs.
Australia played the final two test both of which were
drawn and the final two one-dayers wee wedged between the
second and third tests. Australia lost the second one-dayer
on run-rate, the Sri Lankans not interested in employing a
integral mathematician or the rain rule employing a simple
average run rate over required overs. The final one-dayer
was won by the Australians as the bowling restricted Sri
Lanka to 207 and the Australian ground out the victory by 3
overs.
M W L D T
First Class 5 1 - 4 -
One-Day 3 1 2 - -
Total 8 2 2 4 -
Colombo Australia 5-247 (50.0) (Taylor 94 Moody 54
M Waugh 31 Jones 30)
SL 6-251 (49.2) (de Silva 105 Gurusinha 53
Ranatunga 45* Whitney 2-33)
Colombo First Test
Colombo Second Test
Colombo Australia 7-216(50.0) (Jones 59* Boon 35
Taylor 30 Border 30)
SL 5-194(42.5) (de Silva 63 Hathurusinghe 52*
Mahanama 33)
Colombo SL 6-207(50.0) (Gurusinha 49 Hathurusinghe 46
de Silva 39)
Australia 5-208 (47.0) (Boon 69 M Waugh 52*)
M'tuwa Third Test
Contributed by Phil Shead (drinnen@deakin.edu.au)
