Tour Tales rewinds to Colombo 1993 and a victory that made Sri Lankan history...
England's trial by spin continues...
In March 1993, England headed to Sri Lanka for a brief tour and what they hoped would be welcome respite, following an unsuccessful trip to India, in which they had become the first side to lose all their Test matches, going down 3-0.
The Indian trio of spinners Anil Kumble, Rajesh Raju and Venkatapathy Chauhan had been chiefly responsible for the failure of the visitors' batting on spinning pitches, taking 46 of the 60 wickets between them.
In Sri Lanka, England would be without regular skipper Graham Gooch, who had returned home after the Indian series, leaving Alec Stewart with the triple responsibilities of captaincy, keeping wicket and batting in the middle order.
Stifling
Mindful of England's batting frailties against the turning ball, Sri Lanka chose two unorthodox off-spinners for the only Test match of the tour at the SSC in Colombo - Jayananda Warnaweera and, for only his fourth Test match and first against England, a man who would go on to torment them for nearly two decades, 20-year-old Muttiah Muralitharan.
Three months earlier at the same SSC ground, the two bowlers had taken 13-288 between them in Sri Lanka's nine-wicket Test victory over New Zealand, a result that had prompted New Zealand skipper Martin Crowe to publicly question the legality of Warnaweera's bowling action.
Initially, it seemed that a change of country would signal a change of luck for England after Stewart had won the toss on a damp pitch.
In stifling heat, Sri Lanka's lack of quality seam bowling was exposed, as makeshift opener Robin Smith kept his natural attacking instincts in check to bat through a slow first day and finish on an unbeaten 91, out of a total of 245-3. Smith's third wicket partnership of 112 with Graeme Hick (68) had set the tourists up for a decent first innings score.
On the second morning, the opener found another willing ally in Stewart, as they added a fourth wicket stand of 122, during the course of which Smith brought up his eighth Test century and first outside England before finally falling for 128 after seven and a half hours at the crease.
From 316-4, the innings rather ebbed away; Stewart (63) fell almost immediately to Warnaweera (4-90), who also accounted for Neil Fairbrother (18), Paul Jarvis (0) and Devon Malcolm (13). With Muralitharan (4-118) also amongst the wickets, England's 380 all out, whilst acceptable, was probably no more than par in good batting conditions and the loss of seven wickets for 64 runs had undone much of the good work of the top order.
In reply, dashing opener Roshan Mahanama set about England's bowling with flair and aggression, in partnership with the more sedate Chandika Hathurusinghe. When Phil Tufnell was brought into the attack early on, his first five overs went for 34 as Roshan Mahanama rushed to 64 from just 83 balls before being snared by John Emburey. The hosts closed the second day on 140-1.
Their progress was slower on the third day with opener Hathurusinghe (59 from 146 balls) being dismissed by Lewis early on. Left-handed Gurusinha (43 from 124 balls), very much a rock of Sri Lankan batting in this era, dropped anchor to take the score past 200 before falling to Tufnell.
From there, Sri Lanka's most experienced players Aravinda de Silva (80) and captain Arjuna Ranatunga (64) provided the best batting of the innings, adding 127 runs, and looking particularly assured against spinners Tufnell and Emburey, who both failed to generate the turn that their Sri Lankan counterparts had managed on the first two days.
Repeat
In a repeat of the pattern from England's first innings, a flurry of wickets late on the third day saw the score subside from 330-3 to 376-8 and briefly the match appeared evenly poised. However, Hashan Tillakaratne (93no) found much needed support in the shape of Muralitharan (19), as they added 83 for the ninth wicket against increasingly ragged bowling, not helped by defensive field placing when Tillakaratne was on strike.
By the time the innings ended, Tillakaratne's brilliance had not only given him his then highest Test score (93*) but taken Sri Lanka to 469 all out, a priceless lead of 89. Chris Lewis' figures (4-66) were a reward for sustained hostility in intense heat.
England's second innings was a frenetic affair- first Michael Atherton (2) hit a long-hop from occasional medium- pacer Gurusinha to gully. Then, mindful that the pitch was starting to turn, Gatting (18), Smith (35) and Hick (26) all fell to injudicious attacking strokes against the spinners as the score tottered to 96-5.
With Stewart (3) and Fairbrother (3) also falling cheaply, England were on the brink at 130-6.
Fresh from a maiden Test century two matches earlier in India, Chris Lewis (45) provided some much-needed controlled aggression whilst John Emburey (59) made sure that the visitors built something of a lead in a resolute innings that spanned two and a half hours.
By the time Emburey was last man out, England had recovered somewhat to 228, setting the home side a target of 140 runs for victory. Warnaweera (4-98) had produced match figures of 8-188, whatever the question marks over his bowling action.
Chase
Sri Lanka's run chase would prove a tough challenge; first a hostile Lewis had Mahanama (6) caught behind down the leg-side and then, buoyed by his batting success, Emburey, struck twice in quick succession, his sharp turn forcing Gurusinha (29) to chop on and having De Silva (7) caught at gully as Sri Lanka slumped to 61-4, still 79 short of their target.
As in the first innings, Tillakaratne was a thorn in England's side, square driving against the spinners whenever presented with an opportunity. Ranatunga was more circumspect and, at 98-4, offered a hard chance to Smith at silly mid-off that was shelled. The fielder eventually atoned for his error, by taking another Ranatunga chance (when on 35), but by then another 37 runs had been added and Sri Lanka were almost home.
In front of 10,000 spectators, another of Sri Lanka's future greats, Sanath Jayasuriya, deposited his first ball over square-leg for six to give Sri Lanka their first ever Test win over England in five Tests and only their fourth in 43 matches played overall since gaining Test status in 1981.
Left-hander Hashan Tillakaratne was named man of the match having scored 129 runs in the match without being dismissed to help his team to a memorable and historic win.
For England, it was a sad end to a dismal Test winter, their skills having proved completely inadequate in such unfamiliar playing conditions.
Click here to relive the meeting between the two teams at the Oval in August 1998...
