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Test Cricket Tours - Sri Lanka to
England 1984
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Tour
of England 1984
Captain: Duleep Mendis
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© Test Cricket Tours
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Sri Lanka’s fourth Test tour
(July
- September 1984)
First Test-playing tour of England by Sri Lanka
(no
previous Test tour)
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This was the third tour which the Sri
Lankans had made to England in a five-year period (also 1979 and 1981), but
it was the first to include a Test match.
The tour's sponsor was Raja Mahendran; as Gamini
Dissanayake’s number two in the Cricket Board in
the early eighties, he played a key role in footing the bill to take Sri
Lanka forward to Test status.
Board President Dissanayake,
dismayed at Sri Lanka losing the Test series against New Zealand, got
national cricket coach Stanley Jayasinghe to
coach the Sri Lankan pool of leading cricketers though, due to bad weather,
the pre-tour preparations amounted to only five days of practice out of
doors. Dissanayake also arranged for Ted Dexter
to be the team's consultant in England.
The team included three school students
- Aravinda de Silva, Don Anurasiri
and Marlon Von Hagt - who had toured Australia
with Sri Lanka's under-19s in February.
Tamil students running on to the pitch
on the first day of the Test match to demonstrate their separatist claims
were arrested and bound over to keep the peace for one year.
Sidath Wettimuny was made a Wisden Cricketer of the
Year for his superb century in the Lord's Test match, in which Sri Lanka
had the best of a drawn game. Amal Silva and Duleep
Mendis also scored centuries in the Test match, Mendis almost achieving the feat in both innings.
In the following 1984-85 season Sri
Lanka sent a team of 16 players to Australia to take part in the Benson
& Hedges World Series Cup and World Championship of Cricket (one-day
international tournaments) but the Sri Lankans were not given Test match
exposure.
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Other Sri Lankan Tours
Previous Test tour
New Zealand 1982-83
Next Test tour
Pakistan 1985-86
Next England tour
1988
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Members of the Test tour party (16
+ 1)
Opening batsmen : Sidath Wettimuny, Amal Silva, Marlon Vonhagt.
Middle-order batsmen: Duleep Mendis, Aravinda de Silva,
Roy Dias, Ranjan Madugalle,
Arjuna Ranatunga.
Wicket-keeper: Guy De Alwis
Spin bowlers:
Don Anurasiri,
Somachandra de Silva, Mumtaz Yusuf.
Fast bowlers:Ashantha de Mel, Vinodhan
John, Ravi Ratnayeke, Anusha Samaranayeke
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S D Anurasiri
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Pa
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18
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SLA
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R G de Alwis
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SSC
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25
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WK
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A L F de Mel
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SSC
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25
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RFM
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D S de Silva
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Mwa
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42
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LBG
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P A de Silva
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NCC
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18
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RHB
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R L Dias
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CCC
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31
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RHB
vice-captain
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V B J John
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Bf'd
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24
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RFM
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R S Madugalle
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NCC
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25
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RHB
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L R D Mendis
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SSC
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31
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RHB
captain
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A Ranatunga
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SSC
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20
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LHB
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J Ravi Ratnayeke
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NCC
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24
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LHB
RFM
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A D A Samaranayeke
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NCC
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22
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RFM
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S A R Silva
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NCC
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23
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LHB
second WK
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D M Vonhagt
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Ms
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19
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RHB opener
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S Wettimuny
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SSC
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28
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RHB opener
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M Mumtaz Yusuf
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SSC
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34
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OB
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Average
age of team at time of first Test
match
(23
August 1984) :
26 years 0 month
Representation
of clubs :
B'fd:
Bloomfield (1)
CCC:
Colombo (1)
Ms: Moors Sports Club (1)
Mwa: Moratuwa (1)
NCC:
Nondescripts (5)
Pa: Panadura (1)
SSC:
Sinhalese Sports Club (6)
Key
to type :
LHB
left-hand bat,
LBG
leg break and googly bowler,
OB
off break,
SLA slow left-arm bowler,
RFM
right arm fast medium bowler
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Test Appearances made before the tour
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Madugalle 11, D S de Silva 11, S.Wettimuny 10, Mendis 9,
Dias 8, Ranatunga 8, Ravi Ratnayeke
7, de Mel 6, de Alwis 5, John 5, Silva 1, P A de
Silva 0, Anurasiri 0, Kuruppu
0, Samaranayeke 0, Vonhagt
0, Yusuf 0.
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Tour Officials
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N Chanmugam
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Manager
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M Rajasingham
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Assistant manager
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G G A Saulez
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Scorer
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D V Smith
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Coach
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Neilendran Chanmugam was an
off-spin bowler with Sinhalese Sports Club in the 1960s and 1970s who later
became the director of a TV company.
He continued as manager of the side on the 1984-85 tri-series tour
of Australia.
Muthuweli Rajasingham was team
manager for Sri Lanka's inaugural Test match against England in 1981-82 and
assistant manager on the under-23 side's tour of Pakistan in 1984, and he became a
leading member of the Sri Lankan Board.
Ranjith Fernando was originally made the assistant
manager following the withdrawal of Anura Tennekeoon, before he then also withdrew from the tour.
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Selectors
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Abu
Fuard (chairman
of selectors), Neil Chanmugan, Ranjith
Fernando, Ian Pieris.
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Selection
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Unavailable: Rumesh J Ratnayeke (shoulder injury - his place was taken by Samaranayeke).
Tour
Party Announced :
6 July 1984.
Not
selected :
Roshan Mahanama,
Sanath Kaluperuma, Sumithra Warnakulasuriya.
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Time between selection and departure
from Sri Lanka
13 days
(6 July to 19 July)
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Travel
Colombo Q
London
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Four of the team, (Wettimuny, Madugalle, de Mel
and Aravinda de Silva) flew to England some weeks
before the start of the tour to practice at the M.C.C. indoor school at
Lord's. Funded by the Sri Lankan
Cricket Foundation, they left on 7 July.
The main team flew from Katunayake International Airport, Colombo, at midnight
on Thursday 19 July, arriving the following day at London Airport where
they were met by Arthur Pinto, the Board's representative in England.
Practice sessions were held at The Oval next day.
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Time spent in England
50 days
(20 July - 8 September)
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On-tour selection panel
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Reinforcements (1)
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D B Kuruppu
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Bfd
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22
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LHB
second WK
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Brendon
Kuruppu
was brought in when Guy de Alwis returned home early. De Alwis was
ruled out of the tour in the second game with two broken fingers in his
left hand and arrived home on 23 August.
Six of the tour party suffered
from food poisoning after an evening meal in Cleethorpes.
Ranjan Madugalle
was given a black eye by a drunk who attacked him in Canterbury.
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Fixtures/Results
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a
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Cleethorpes
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Nottinghamshire
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Drawn
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b
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The
Oval
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Surrey
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Lost 159 r
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c
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Cheltenham
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Gloucestershire
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Drawn
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d
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Southampton
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Hampshire
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Drawn
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e
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Canterbury
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Kent
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Drawn
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f
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†Arundel
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Duchess
Norfolk's XI
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Won 1 w
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g
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Hove
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Sussex
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Drawn
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h
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LORD'S
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ENGLAND
Test Match
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DRAWN
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i
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Birmingham
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Warwickshire
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Drawn
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j
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Scarborough
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D
B Close's XI
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Drawn
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â€
not first-class
§ one-day international
Time
spent in England before First Test:
34
days
(20
July - 23 August)
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Test appearances on tour
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1 - de Mel, Aravinda
de Silva, DS de Silva, Dias, John, Madugalle, Mendis, Ranatunga, Ratnayeke, Silva, Wettimuny
0 - Anurusiri, de Alwis, Kuruppu, Samaranayeke, Vonhagt, Yusuf.
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Match appearances
T Test match
o one-day international
x
other match
⊕
T/20 international
- teams not announced
W won L lost D drawn T
tie
N no
result A
abandoned
u unknown
result C cancelled
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a
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b
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c
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d
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e
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f
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g
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h
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i
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j
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S D Anurasiri
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x
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x
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x
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x
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R G de Alwis
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x
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x
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A L F de Mel
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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x
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D S de Silva
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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P A de Silva
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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x
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x
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R L Dias
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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x
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x
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V B J John
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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D B Kuruppu
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x
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x
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x
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x
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R S Madugalle
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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x
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x
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L R D Mendis
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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A Ranatunga
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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x
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x
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Ravi Ratnayeke
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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x
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x
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A Samaranayeke
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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S A R Silva
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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x
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x
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D M Vonhagt
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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S Wettimuny
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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x
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T
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x
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M M Yusuf
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x
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x
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x
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x
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R E S U L T S
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D
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L
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D
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D
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D
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W
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D
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D
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D
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D
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Highlights
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•
Sidath Wettimuny's 190 at Lord's, batting 642 minutes,
was the longest innings played in a Lord's Test match.
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Sri Lanka, put in to bat by England, racked up 491 for 7 declared.
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Tour Summary
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F
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W
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L
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D
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Aban
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Test Matches
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1
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0
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0
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1
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-
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Other first-class matches
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8
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0
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1
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7
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-
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ϯ Minor matches
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1
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1
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0
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0
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-
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§ One-day internationals
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0
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-
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-
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-
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All Matches
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10
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1
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1
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8
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-
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F
Fixtures W
Won L Lost
D Drawn T Tied
Canc Cancelled
Aban abandoned
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Return to Sri Lanka
London Q
Colombo
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The team returned from
England on Saturday 8 September 1984. They were given a team reception at Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo, on Monday 10 September.
Three team members (Aravinda de Silva, von Hagt
and Amal Silva) stayed back in England and did not return to Colombo until
24 September.
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Time away from Sri Lanka
52 days
(19 July - 9 September)
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Postscript
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Other Test tours in 1984
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Australians to
England
to
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© 2015
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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
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