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Twenty-five years on from Sri Lanka’s most acrimonious tour

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5 years ago

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By Rex Clementine

Australia’s support to develop and nurture the game of cricket in Sri Lanka is unparalleled. From voting in favour of granting Sri Lanka Test status in 1981 to donating US$ 100,000 so that the board could afford a qualified foreign coach in 1994, the Australian Cricket Board has been a pillar of strength to us. But Arjuna Ranatunga’s side’s tour of Australia in 1995 was a bitter pill to swallow. Twenty-five years later, many admit that this tour was the one that transformed Sri Lankan cricket – from also-rans to fierce competitors.

Leading television personality Brian Thomas once asked Steve Waugh about sledging as his side was notorious for what they called ‘mental disintegration’ of the opposition. Waugh’s reply was interesting. He said, “Arjuna Ranatunga is the biggest sledger in the world. One Ranatunga is equal to 11 Australians.”

The 1995 tour brought out the ugly side of Australians. The Sri Lankans responded with uglier stuff and players of both sides remained at daggers drawn for years. It is the tradition in Australia that the losing side visits the winners for a beer after a game. That protocol was breached. Sri Lankans didn’t buy into the argument that you play hard on the field but cooled things off at stumps. They took the Aussies head on.

There were controversies – plenty of them. During the opening Test in Perth, the tourists were accused of ball tampering. But later they were exonerated. Then in the second Test at MCG, Murali was no balled for throwing. There were some 55,000 fans witnessing the Boxing Day encounter and later it emerged that some officials of the Australian board were aware that the spinner was going to get a public humiliation. But the greatest thing about Australians is that they owe up to their mistakes. Of all people, Steve Waugh in his autobiography ‘Never Satisfied’ admits that it shouldn’t have happened.  

Then there was horrendous umpiring and many felt Sri Lankans were hard done by. The other great attribute about Aussies is that they call a spade a spade. Former captains Richie Benaud and Ian Chappell in commentary didn’t mince any words about the standards of umpiring.

Amidst the chaos, the competitive nature of the Sri Lankans was almost forgotten. Their bowling was one dimensional those days and was not able to take 20 wickets. Batting, however, was classy.

Hashan Tillakaratne posted a hundred in the opening Test. To date, he is the only Sri Lankan to have scored a hundred in Perth, considered the fastest wicket in the world. Asanka Gurusinha came up with a back to the wall hundred at MCG in the Boxing Day Test. The tour also proved to be the arrival of Sanath Jayasuriya as a Test match opener following his century at the Adelaide Oval.

It was quite a formidable attack too with Glen McGrath and Shane Warne in their prime and Sri Lankans returned home with their heads held high, something that you don’t find happening too often when going down under.

Aravinda de Silva was a disappointment. Much was expected of him and the way the Aussies celebrated his dismissal each time gave you an indication how much they valued his wicket. In six innings, he managed only 98 runs with a highest score of 28.

Aravinda did finish up as the highest run getter for the team in the tri-nation competition that took place simultaneously along the Test series. But the team expected much more from him.

West Indies were the third team in the tri-nation competition and they were quite a strong force at that stage. To their credit, the Sri Lankans defeated West Indies and qualified for the finals.

The tour ended late January and the World Cup was just two weeks away. This outing had toughened up the Sri Lankans like any tour of Australia would do.

After Sri Lanka qualified for the finals of the 1996 World Cup, Arjuna was asked which opposition he would prefer in the final. He said, bring on the Aussies. Not many teams wanted to play the Aussies in a World Cup final at that stage. But the Sri Lankans were up for it. And the rest as they say is history.


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India scrape home after Kohli, Gill hit half-centuries

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39 mins ago

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2026/01/12

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KL Rahul guided India home (BCCI)

With scores of 74*, 135, 102 and 65* in his last four ODIs, Virat Kohli  seemed to be telling the world he was no longer willing to be dismissed unless he had reached three figures. This sequence seemed to be stretching into the new year, with Kohli batting on 93 and taking full control of a chase of 301.

Then, a familiar nemesis appeared. Kyle Jamieson has caused Kohli and India numerous headaches in Test cricket, and now he burst this first ODI wide open in the space of seven balls with the wickets of Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer.

Having been cruising to victory minutes earlier, India suddenly needed 59 off 53 balls with five wickets in hand and two new batters at the crease. And with Washington Sundar held back, nursing a side strain, one of them was the lower-order batter Harshit Rana.

A match dominated by India moved now to an exciting finish, and both Rana – who made a 23-ball 29 – and the hobbling Washington played their part in it, before KL Rahul put the finishing touches, hitting debutant Kristian Clarke for 4, 4, 6 to seal victory with six balls to spare.

The first men’s international game at the Kotambi Stadium got the finish fans may have craved, but its tension had seemed inconceivable when Kohli was in the middle, putting on stands of 118 with Shubman Gill  and 77 with Iyer.

Kohli’s innings was one of both vintage and new-age rhythms. He was all intent at the start, stepping out to the seamers, prepared to go over the top, hitting six fours in his first 20 balls. Thereafter, he knew he was in charge, and dictated the tempo like a deep-lying midfield playmaker.

There was, for instance, the shot he played to go from 75 to 79. Having hit just one boundary in 55 balls (and not being any worse off for it), he manufactured one off Clarke with his expert manipulation of the middle-overs field restrictions, with only four fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. He took stance outside leg stump, telling the bowler anything on the line of the stumps would go over the off side, with no one on the boundary at deep cover or mid-off. Clarke followed Kohli with a ball at his hip, and he wristed it expertly to the unguarded backward-square-leg boundary.

Within sight of a century, however, Kohli fell, charging Jamieson and failing to find the elevation needed to clear mid-off. Jamieson then took out Jadeja and a set Iyer, who had batted authoritatively until then upon his return from injury, taking a heavy toll of legspinner Adithya Ashok. Both were soft dismissals, though both came off cross-seam deliveries that misbehaved just enough off this black-soil Vadodara surface to punish shots lacking neither defensive nor attacking conviction.

Then Rana, surviving a dropped chance from Daryl Mitchell  on the midwicket boundary, dominated a sixth-wicket stand of 37 with Rahul before falling with 22 needed off 22. With Washington only able to walk between wickets, India still managed a single nearly every ball, before Rahul applied that emphatic finish with nine needed off nine balls.

That India were in full control for much of their chase indicated two things: one, the lack of experience in New Zealand’s injury-ravaged attack, and two: the inadequacy of their total.

Their innings began promisingly, with Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls putting on 117 for the first wicket, but as well as they batted, India’s bowlers never let the scoring rate run away. Then Rana dismissed both openers, diddling out Nicholls with a wide slower yorker before bowling Conway off the inside edge with an inducker.

Thereafter, New Zealand’s innings was full of promising innings and promising partnerships that ended just when they were beginning to look threatening. India’s seamers did the bulk of the wicket-taking, while Kuldeep Yadav took out the dangerous Glenn Phillips with a cleverly looped-up wrong’un.

Amid all that, Mitchell ensured New Zealand wouldn’t fall short of a competitive total with an innings of industry – he only took 51 balls to get to his half-century despite only hitting four boundaries in that time – and well-timed spurts of aggression, including a sequence of 4, 6, 4 off Prasidh Krishna in the 48th over – the highlight a scooped four over short fine – before falling lbw next ball.

Brief scores:

India 306 for 6 in 49 overs  (Virat Kohli 93, Shubman Gill 56, Shreyas  Iyer 49; Kyle Jamieson 4-41) beat New Zealand 300 for 8 in 50 overs  (Daryl Mitchell 84, Henry Nicholls 62, Devon Conway 56; Mohammed Siraj 2-40, Prasidh Krishna 2-60, Harshit Rana 2-65) by four wickets

(Cricinfo)

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Shanaka, Mendis star in 12-over run-fest to square series for Sri Lanka

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1 hour ago

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2026/01/12

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Kusal Mendis plays a sweep during his 30 from 16 balls (Cricinfo)

Dasun Shanaka  clobbered 34 off 9 balls, Kusal Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka and Janith Liyanage all chipped in with quick runs, and Sri Lanka raced to 160 for 6 in 12 overs, but Pakistan still made them sweat.

The match had been shortened to 12-overs-a-side after rain forced a delay of two hours and 20 minutes. A wet outfield also made bowling significantly more difficult, with both spinners and seamers struggling to grip the ball.

But in any conditions, this was a run-fest, Sri Lanka traveling at 13.3 an over across their innings, while Pakistan’s run rate was 12.25. In the end, Sri Lanka’s bowlers made frequent-enough incisions to slow the opposition. Wanindu Hasaranga  was chief among the destroyers, taking 4 for 35 in his three overs.

Salman Agha layed the most daring innings in the chase, thumping 45 off 12 balls. Had he survived for two further overs, Pakistan might have had the momentum to get over the line. In the end, they fell 14 short.

Sri Lanka’s captain was under a little pressure to impose himself after recently reclaiming the leadership. To this match he brought his best big-hitting self, and transformed a good total into a daunting one. Shanaka came in with only 19 balls left in the innings, then smoked his second and third balls for six. Then, in the final over bowled by Mohammad Wasim, Shanaka thumped three sixes off the first three balls, depositing two of those over the deep cover boundary. He holed out off the third-to-last ball of the innings, but he had produced a gem.

The stage had been set for him by a top order that had already prospered, however. By he time Shanaka arrived, Sri Lanka were already 100 for 5 after 8.5 overs.

Although the ball was difficult to grip, this Dambulla surface still took decent turn. And Hasaranga can be devastating on such tracks, particularly when the opposition has no choice but to target him. Although often Hasaranga gets plenty of bowled and lbw dismissals with his googly, all four of his victims on Sunday were caught attempting big shots. His speed through the air and degree of turn created most of those dismissals.

Of the 12 he faced, the only ball Agha didn’t score off was the one he got out to. Agha hit three sixes, five fours, one three, and two twos in his innings. He took a particular liking to the bowling of Maheesh Theekshana, who went for 22 runs in the third over. His most spectacular shot was an over-the-shoulder scoop against Matheesha Pathirana in the fourth over, which sailed over the boundary. But then Pathirana wised up, bowled fuller, and Agha sent a catch to short fine leg to end his innings.

Brief  scores:

Sri Lanka 160 for 6 in 12 overs  (Kamil Mishara 20, Dasun Shanaka 34, Kusal Mendis 30, Dhananjaya de Silva 22, Charith Asalanka 21, Janith Liyanage 22*; Naseem Shah  1-35, Mohammad  Wasim 3-54, Mohammad Nawaz 1-08, Faheem Ashraf  1-09) beat Pakistan 146 for 8 in 12 overs (Salman Agha 45, Mohammed Nawaz 28, Khawaja Nafay 26; Eshan Malinga 127,  Matheesha Pathirana 2-34, Wanidu Hasaranga 4-35) by 14 runs

(Cricinfo)

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Gardner and Wareham lead Giants to opening-game victory

Published

23 hours ago

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2026/01/11

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Phoebe Litchfield's fighting half-century went in vain [Cricinfo]

Georgia Wareham towered over the rest with an impressive all-round show to lead Gujarat Giants to an impressive opening match win over UP Warriorz.

Wareham’s unbeaten 10-ball 27 gave Giants the finishing kick they needed to nudge past 200, after a half-century from Ashleigh  Gardner had laid the perfect platform. Then Wareham picked up the massive wickets of Meg Lanning and Harleen Deol to scupper Warriorz’s chase.

Phoebe Litchfield’s 40-ball 78 kept Warriorz in the hunt, but her dismissal proved decisive. Warriorz, however, managed to stem some net-run-rate damage courtesy a neat cameo from Asha Sobhana.

Sophie Devine briefly wrested the initiative in the powerplay, taking down Deepti Sharma in the fourth over, but a double-strike kept Giants in check. Beth Mooney was undone by a Sophie Ecclestone arm-ball in the fifth over, while Devine holed out to deep midwicket off Shikha Pandey for a 20-ball 38 in the sixth.

She exhibited this best when she danced down the track and got leg-side of the ball before lofting Ecclestone inside-out between cover and point for four. Gardner, initially measured, shifted gears decisively in the 13th over, carving Kranti Gaud for three boundaries.

She turned up the heat further, launching three sixes, off Asha and Ecclestone, across the 14th and 15th overs. Giants plundered 49 runs from overs 13 to 15, a burst that carried Gardner to her half-century off just 30 balls.Wareham walked in halfway through the 17th over, and had stamped her mark on the innings by the end of Giants’ innings. The highlight was her onslaught against Deandra Dottin, the former Giants allrounder, hitting for three sixes in the 19th over.

Wareham could have been dismissed on 13, though, had Gaud held on to a simple chance at cover point in the same over. Bharti Fulmali then showcased her hitting prowess, muscling Deepti for two sixes in the final over to take Giants past 200.

Warriorz lost Kiran Navgire in the first over, to Renuka Singh, but Litchfield looked in sparkling form from the outset. Her exhilarating strokeplay somewhat consigned Mrg Lanning to the background for much of their 70-run second-wicket stand before the floodgates opened, with Warriorz losing three wickets in four deliveries to go into a full-blown collapse.

At 74 for 4, Warriorz held back Dottin and promoted their lone retention, Shweta Sehrawat. And she made everyone go wow first ball, launching Renuka down the ground for six. If that was audacious, two consecutive sixes off Gardner in the following over were truly exhilarating.

Litchfield’s progress to her half-century in 29 balls was no less entertaining. She swept, reverse-swept, paddled, and moved across the stumps to mow length deliveries into the leg side.

Warriorz’s hopes rose through the course of a fifth-wicket stand of 69, but Litchfield’s dismissal, coming soon after that of Sehrawat who was bowled missing a slog-sweep off Rajeshwari Gayakwad, proved to be the clincher.

Asha’s cameo from there on merely reduced the margin of defeat.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Giants Women  207 for 4 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 13, Sophia Devine 38, Ashleigh Gardner 65, Anushka Sharma 44, Georgia Wareham 27*, Bharati Fulmali 14*; Shikha Pandey 1-29, Deandra Dottin 1-47, Sophie Ecclestone 2-32) beat UP Warriorz Women  197 for 8 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 30, Phoebe Litchfield 78, Shweta Sehrawat 25, Deandra Dottin 12, Sophie Ecclestone 11, Asha Sobhana 27*; Renuka  Singh 2-25, Sophie Devine 2-55, Ashleigh Gardner 1-37, Georgia Wareham 2-30, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 1-07) by 10 runs

[Cricinfo]

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