Tour of West Indies 2007-08           Captain: Mahela Jayawardene

Sri Lanka’s forty-first Test tour

Third official Test-playing tour of West Indies by Sri Lanka

(March - April 2008)

Sri Lanka sent an experienced squad in their endeavour to win a Test match for the first time on Caribbean soil. The first Test brought the historic victory against the West Indies at the Providence Stadium in Guyana but overall the tour results were disappointing. They had to share the spoils in the Test series and did not win any of the one-day internationals.

The first Test was a glorious landmark in Sri Lanka’s Test history but West Indies fought back magnificently in Trinidad and, chasing 254 to level the series, strolled to their target for the loss of only four wickets.

In the one-day series Sri Lanka flew in seven fresh players, partly to gain international experience before the next World Cup. They lost the first match on the final ball when Vaas was hit for six. West Indies gained victory in the second match as well, and the third was rained off.

Other Sri Lankan Tours

Previous tour

Australia 2007-08

Next tour 

Bangladesh 2008-09

Next tour of West Indies

2012-13 (cancelled)

Members of the Test tour party (15)

Opening batsmen: Michael Vandort, Malinda Warnapura

Middle-order batsmen:Mahela Jayawardane, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva.

Wicket-keeper:Prasanna Jayawardane

Spin bowler:Muttiah . Muralitharan, Rangana Herath

Fast bowlers:Chaminda Vaas, Ishara Amarasinghe, Thilina Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Chanaka Welegedera

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(22 March 2008) :

 29 yrs  8 months.

Representation of clubs : 

Bf'd: Bloomfiield  (3)

CCC: Colombo  (1)

Ct: Colts Cricket Club (4)

Ms : Moors  (2)

NCC: Nondescripts  (1)

SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club (3)

TU:  Tamil Union  (1)

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

Test Appearances made before the tour

Muralitharan 118,  Vaas 102,  M Jayawardene 93,  Sangakkara 71,  Dilshan 43,  Samaraweera 40,  P Jayawardene 17,  Vandort 14,  Herath 12,  Silva 10,  Kulasekara 4,  Warnapura 2,  Thushara 1,  Welegedera 1,  Amerasinghe 0.

⋆ Tour Officials

Selectors

Asantha de Mel (chairman),   Ranjith Madurasinghe, Jayantha Seneviratne and Don Anurasiri.

Selection

Unavailable :  Sanath Jayasuriya retired from Tests in 2007. Dilhara Fernando (injured in Australia)

The Selection Committee met on 17 February.

Tour Part.y announced:  19 February 2008.

Stand-bys:    Upul Tharanga (NCC),  Chamara Kapugedera (CCC),  Malinga Bandara (Ragama),  Sujeewa Silva

Not selected:  

Withdrawals:  Two of their fast bowlers Lasith Malinga (knee bone) and Farveez Maharoof (side strain) were injured and their places were taken by Chanaka Welagedera and Nuwan Kulasekera.

One-day squad announced :  11 March 2008.

One-day stand-bys: Thilina Kandamby, Dhammika Prasad.  Sanath Jayasuriya was not chosen for the ODIs.

Time between selection and departure from Sri Lanka

   21 days

(19 February to  11 March)

Travel

Colombo   Q  London    Q  Barbados   Q  Guyana

The team had just returned from competing in the Commonwealth Bank tri-series in Australia

Departure from Sri Lanka was on Tuesday 11 March

On Friday 14  March 2008  the team arrived at Grantley Adams International Airport, then left Barbados on Friday night for Guyana
, where they arrived at Cheddi Jagan Airport after a tiring flight on 15 March.

Time spent in West Indies

   x days

(14 March - depart Host)

On-tour selection panel

Trevor Bayliss (coach),  Mahela Jayawardene (captain),  Kumar Sangakkara (vice-captain),  Jayantha Seneviratne (selector on tour).

Reinforcements

None.

Fixtures/Results

A three-day game scheduled for St. Augustine was shifted to Shaw Park in Tobago, because a blind tournament was using the University ground. West Indies Cricket Board said that flight difficulties prevented them from organising the Tobago game and offered net practice facilities instead

† not first-class

§  one-day international

Time spent in West Indies before First Test: 

     8 days

(14 March  - 22 March)

Test appearances on tour

2  -   Dilshan,  M Jayawardene,  Muralitharan,  Samaraweera,  Sangakkara,  Thushara Mirando, Vaas,  Vandort,  Warnapura

1  -   Amerasinghe,  Herath,  P Jayawardene,  Silva.

0  -   Kulasekera,  Welegedera 

Match appearances

Highlights

•   Malinda Warnapura (120) and Michael Vandort (52) made a stand of 130 for the first wicket at Providence

•   Jayawardene (136) also contributed a century to Sri Lanka’s massive 476 for 9 declared

•   Chaminda Vaas took 5-61, bowling Sri Lanka to their first Test victory in the Caribbean.

•   Muralitharan took 5-79 to restrict West indies’ first innings lead at Port of Spain

•   A century from Thilan Samaraweera (125) gave Sri Lanka a chance of winning the second Test.

Tour Summary

Return to Sri Lanka

?    Q  LondonQ  Colombo

.

Last match 15 April

Time away from Sri Lanka 

     x days  

(11 March  to  ? April)

Finances

…..

Postscript

The selectors had decided to bring Sanath Jayasuriya’s one-day international career to a close and left him out of this tour but had to reconsider their selection policy after Jayasuriya struck the second-fastest century for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (T20) and chose him for the Asia Cup tournament in June.

Sri Lanka lost the services of physiotherapist Tommy Sismek who joined the Indian Premier League. He had supported the squad since June 2005 when Tom Moody took over as coach