Sports
Rekindling memories of Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test – 40 years on
By Dion Schoorman
Today, 17th February, is the 40th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test match and marked a special milestone in the history of Sri Lankan cricket. That game against England began at the Colombo Oval on 17th February 1982.
On the day of the inaugural Test, the country came to a virtual standstill, with everyone being at the game, including the then-President J. R. Jayewardene, Senior Minister and Cricket Board President Gamini Dissanayake and almost the entire Cabinet (of course the cabinet was not nearly as big as the present day!). Cricket administrators from around the world and former Sri Lankan ‘greats’ were all assembled in the main pavilion of the Colombo Oval – known today as the P Sara Stadium.
In attendance was also a spritely young Percy Abeysekera, who entertained everyone with his theme song of those days: ‘ICC, Sir, when can we call you friend?’ The song referred to Sri Lanka’s long struggle to gain Test status, and ended in typical Percy style: ‘NOW, we can call you friend!’
Late Bandula Warnapura faced Sri Lanka’s first ball in Test match cricket and scored the first run. He became the nation’s first Test cricketer.
There was a carnival atmosphere at the grounds – a special coin had been minted for the occasion and was to be used at the toss. The sponsors Hatton National Bank had produced a special range of souvenirs – the most popular one being the cap with the words “Inaugural Test Match – I WAS THERE!’
It was then time for action and Sri Lankan umpires Herbie Felsinger and Kandiah Francis strolled out to the middle signalling the start of play.
When play began, Sri Lankan captain Bandula Warnapura immediately notched up a set of unique records – he became the first skipper to win a toss, he then faced the first ball and scored the first run. He missed out on the chance to get the first boundary and then had the unfortunate record of being the first dismissal. Sadly, the two players involved in that first ball – the bowler Bob Willis and batsman Warnapura have passed away – Willis in December 2019 and Warnapura just four months ago in October 2021.
The Test followed England’s incredible Ashes triumph of 1981 and opening the bowling were the heroes of the famous Headingley Test – Bob Willis and Ian Botham. The pair bowled with great hostility and gave the Lankans a baptism of fire soon reducing the hosts to 34 for four, with the cream of the batting back in the pavilion, and the team’s two youngest members – Ranjan Madugalle and Arjuna Ranatunga – at the crease.
Old doubts began to surface… Was Sri Lanka ready for Test cricket? Can two schoolboys do what their more experienced seniors could not?
Thankfully, those doubts were soon dispelled, as Madugalle (65) and Ranatunga (54) first dug themselves in playing watchful but steady cricket. As they grew in confidence, the youngsters unfurled a range of attractive strokes all around the wicket. Madugalle hit Sri Lanka’s first six and added three more boundaries whilst Ranatunga struck seven fours as the pair notched up Sri Lanka’s first two half-centuries in Tests in a stand of 99 for the fifth wicket to lift the home spirits. The stand ended when Ranatunga shouldered arms to a ball from Derek Underwood which nipped back into the stumps. Ashantha de Mel (19), and wicketkeeper Mahes Goonetilake (22 not out) helped Madugalle add useful runs and Sri Lanka was eventually dismissed for a slightly disappointing 218. Left armer Underwood was the chief destroyer for England with five wickets.
Sri Lanka were 34 for four in the first innings having elected to bat
first in the inaugural Test match. Schoolboy Arjuna Ranatunga posted
the nation’s maiden half-century.
That score was made to look much bigger when the hosts – led by a fiery Ashantha de Mel – rocked England with some early strikes to have them at 40 for three. David Gower (89) and skipper Keith Fletcher (45) then added 80 for the fourth wicket to restore some order. However, the hosts were not about to give up. Showing great determination and character they maintained the pressure on their more experienced opponents and when Underwood was dismissed first ball England were 216 for nine and in real danger of conceding a first innings lead. That they were able to avoid that ignominy was thanks to wicketkeeper Bob Taylor who remained unbeaten on 31 as England crawled to 223 – a lead of just five runs. De Mel was the pick of the bowlers with four for 70, and was ably supported by veteran legspinner Somachandra de Silva and left arm spinner Asoka de Silva with three and two wickets respectively.
When Sri Lanka batted a second time, skipper Warnapura (38) struck five fours and shared a second wicket partnership of 83 with the elegant Roy Dias who weighed in with a typically silken 77 including 11 fours, and the hosts were strongly placed at 152 for 3, at the end of the third day. At the wickets were Duleep Mendis on 16 and first innings hero Madugalle who had just come in and was yet to open his account. The Sri Lankans clearly had the upper hand and their fans were jubilant and dreaming of a sensational win to mark their entry into Test cricket. Another 150 runs would leave the visitors a tough task on a wearing wicket.
Sadly for Sri Lankan fans, the fairy tale was not to be and instead the fourth day turned into a nightmare for the hosts. The day began well enough as the overnight pair of Mendis and Madugalle moved sedately along and took the score to 167 when suddenly everything started to go horribly wrong. Madugalle who had made just three off 52 balls edged Emburey to Cook and shortly afterwards the other first innings hero Ranatunga was snapped up by Fletcher off Emburey for two. Underwood then had Somachandra de Silva caught by Fletcher for one. Mendis who had made 27 with a six and two fours, tried to hit his way out of trouble but was caught by Willis off Emburey. The hosts lost their last seven wickets for a mere eight runs, to slide from 167 for 3 to 175 all out.
Off spinner John Emburey who went wicketless in the first innings, was virtually unplayable on a wicket assisting spin and grabbed a rich haul of six for 33 off 25 overs whilst Derek Underwood bagged three more wickets to add to the five he took in the first innings for a match bag of eight wickets. England were left a target of 171 for victory and although De Mel dismissed Geoff Cook for a duck, to briefly excite local fans, Chris Tavaré atoned for his first inning duck with a stolid 85 and Gower weighed in with 42 not out to ease their side to a seven-wicket win and break the hearts of the local fans.
Since that first Test, for the last 40 years our cricketers have caused a whole range of emotions over their performances – from gut wrenching disappointments to delirious ecstasies. There has been a lot of angst but there certainly have been magical moments of rapture as well.
(Dion Schoorman covered the nation’s first Test match 40 years ago. Later he went onto become the Bureau Chief of Reuters in Colombo)
North Korea has held the Pyongyang International Marathon for the first time in six years, welcoming some 200 foreign runners to the streets of the reclusive country’s capital.
The marathon, which was launched in 1981, took place annually in April to celebrate the birth of its founding leader Kim Il Sung.
Before Sunday’s marathon, the race was last held in 2019, wherein 950 foreigners participated. North Korea sealed itself off the following year, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
North Korea has been slow to reopen since, allowing only Russian tourists into its capital since last year.
Runners have had to enter the country as part of an organised tour group, as was the case before the pandemic.
Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based travel agency listed as an “exclusive partner” on the event website, offers six-day marathon tours at 2,195 euros ($2,406) including flights to and from Beijing.
“The Pyongyang Marathon is an extremely unique experience as it provides an opportunity to interact with locals,” the agency wrote on its website.
Sunday’s marathon route took participants past landmarks across the city, including the Kim Il Sung stadium, the Arch of Triumph built to commemorate Kim Il Sung’s role in resisting Japanese rule, and the Mirae Future Scientists’ Street said to be a residential district for scientists and engineers.
Pictures online show the stadium – where runners start and finish their race – filled with spectators, many of them cheering and waving gold-coloured paper flags.
Pak Kum Dong, a North Korean runner, told Reuters news agency: “The eyes of our people on me helped me to bear the difficulties whenever I feel tired.”
There is no publicly available information on race results.
North Korea had only statred to scale back Covid-19 restrictions in the middle of 2023.
In Feburary, it allowed some Western tourists into the remote, eastern city Rason, but suspended those tours just weeks after.
[BBC]
Noor Ahmad, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) left-arm wristspinner, continues to head the Purple Cap table with ten wickets from four games. His spell of 4 for 18 in CSK’s first game against MI, remains his best so far.
DC’s Mitchell Starc who picked up his maiden five-for in T20s, against SRH remains second on the list with nine wickets in three games.
GT’s Mohammed Siraj equalled Starc’s tally on Sunday night with his own IPL best, albeit he has played four games to Starc’s three. Siraj picked up 4 for 17 against SRH to hand them their four successive loss, and was named the Player of the Match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another batting malfunction, this time on a slow, black-soil surface at home, crashing to their fourth successive defeat in IPL 2025. Having lost Travishek in the powerplay, SRH waited until the 13th over to see the first six of the innings, and managed only one more after that Mohammad Siraj caused irreparable damage right from the start, ending with his career-best IPL figures of 4 for 17.
Pat Cummins’ cameo (22* off nine balls) and then his dismissal of Jos Buttler for a duck in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) chase of 153 gave SRH some hope, but that faded away once Washington Sundar clattered 23 off nine balls in the powerplay. Earlier in the day, GT didn’t need Washington with the ball, but his attacking enterprise at No. 4 settled their chase on a slow pitch. Washington fell agonisingly short of a maiden IPL half-century, but his captain Shubman Gill ushered GT home, with an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls, along with Sherfane Rutherford.
Siraj had sparked the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to life when he gave Travis Head a send-off in Adelaide last December. Four months on, Siraj was bowling to Head for the first time in T20s, and the battle lasted just five balls. After Head scored two fours off Siraj, the fast bowler struck with his trademark wobble-seam delivery, having him chip a catch to midwicket for 8.
Abhishek Sharma hit four fours before Siraj had him miscuing a catch to mid-on in his third over of the powerplay. It was Siraj’s 100th wicket in the IPL and sixth in the powerplay, the most by a bowler in that phase so far this season, with an economy rate of 6.27.
Siraj then returned in the death to york both Aniket Verma, the last recognised batter for SRH, and Simarjeet Singh, their Impact Player.
With both Head and Abhishek gone early,Rashid Khan, who was coming into this game on the back of figures of 4-0-54-0, could afford to ease himself in. He started fairly well by giving away just 10 runs in his first two overs, but when he erred in length, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klassen dispatched him to the fence. Rashid finished with 4-0-31-0, going wicketless for a third successive game, and with tournament figures of 1 for 143 in 14 overs at an economy rate of 10.21
Left-arm fingerspinner Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, on the other hand, showed remarkable control over his length and variations. He claimed the big wicket of Klaasen by knocking him over with a quick dart, which skidded off the pitch, for 27 off 19 balls. Sai Kishore also had Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls and finished with 4-0-24-2.
That SRH passed 150 was down to Cummins’ late blows. He was the only SRH batter in the top eight to have a strike rate of over 160.
It appeared like GT had handed a franchise debut to Washington to primarily match his offspin up with SRH’s left-hander heavy top order. But with Siraj dominating the powerplay and Sai Kishore taking care of the middle overs, GT ended up not using his offspin.
Washington then walked out to bat at No. 4 after his childhood friend B Sai Sudarshan and Buttler fell cheaply in successive overs. Washington took advantage of the last over of the powerplay, smoking Simarjeet for two sixes and two fours. It provided a throwback to Washington of 2016, when he opened the batting, alongside Abhinav Mukund, in the TNPL and showed the intent to hit over the top. Just like that, Washington dumped SRH’s Impact Player out of the attack.
Washington continued to attack even after that. When the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis darted one on the stumps with his right hand, Washington manufactured swinging room and laced him over extra-cover for four. Washington seemed set for a fifty until he holed out one shy of the landmark in the 14th over.
Gill, who had already crossed 50 by that point, finished the job along with Rutherford, who hit an unbeaten 35 off 16 balls.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 153 for 3 in 16.4 overs (Shubman Gill 61*, Washington Sundar 49, Sherfaine Rutherford 35*; Mohammed Shami 2-28, Pat Cumminss 1-26) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 152 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 18, Ishan Krishan 17, Nitish Kumar Reddy 31, Heinrich Klassen 27, Aniket Verma 18,Pat Cummins 22*; Mohammed Siraj 4-17, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 2-24, Prasidh Krishna 2-25)by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
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