Sri Lanka lit up Lord's in 1984 against England

By A.C. de Silva

CRICKET: Talk of a game spreading its wings to other countries, Sri Lanka can take pride with their fine showing at Lord's - the much venerated cricket ground in the world, in August 1984. On that occasion, Sri Lanka playing there for the first time, somewhat completed a humilation of England by earning a honourable draw.

Amal Silva (102 not out) and skipper Duleep Mendis (94) cornered the glory on the fifth and final day of the match. At the end, Sri Lanka ended with 294 for 7 wickets in 320 minutes in their second innings. Sri Lanka made 491 for 7 wickets declared in their first innings while England made 370 in their first turn.

So, it was a pleasant experience for Sri Lanka playing for the first time at the much venerated cricket ground in the world - Lord's and giving the Englishmen some food for thought in Sri Lanka's first outing on the hallowed ground.

Sri Lanka made giant strides in this match mainly due to the majestic knock of 190 runs by opening batsman Sidath Wettimuny who joined the select band of cricketers in getting to that marvellous score playing at Lord's for the first time.

There were around 5,000 spectators when England skipper David Gower, after winning the toss, invited the Sri Lankans to have first lease of the wicket and it looked as if Gower had underestimated the batting power of the Sri Lankans as the Lankans found no terrors in England's bowling and made quick runs.

Sidath Wettimuny, then 28 years old, made it a memorable Test debut at Lord's by making that fine knock against an England attack which was given a battering by West Indies on an earlier occasion. There were two other batsmen skipper Duleep Mendis (111) and Arjuna Ranatunga (84) who pulverised the English bowlers to make quick runs to take Sri Lanka to a good score.

On the first day, Wettimuny spaced out his innings well - making 51 in the first session, 55 in the second session and 10 runs in the last 90 minutes.

In all that day, he batted for 330 minutes and struck 13 fours in an innings of concentration and application.

Wettimuny sparkles

Wettimuny who made 116 not out on the first day, became only the 4th batsman in the world to score a century in their country's first Test at Lord's. The other three before him were: P.W. Sherwell (South Africa) in 1907, M.L. Page and C.M. Denver (both New Zealand).

Came day number two and Sri Lanka's batsmen set the ground alight with superb display of batting and went up to 434 for 4 wickets. Duleep Mendis - the captain, was the hero with his third century in Test cricket. He reached it just before the players came off the field for bad light. At that stage he had made 146 runs which included three sixes and 10 fours off 112 balls.

Wettimuny's 150 took him 482 minutes and contained 17 fours and came off 369 balls. His third 50 was one of the longest in cricket, taking him 263 minutes to compile. He passed his previous highest score of 157 in Test cricket against Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1982. Sri Lanka finally made 491 for 7 wickets and then closed their first innings.

England struggle

It was somewhat of a struggle for England to make runs on the third day and made 112 for 2 wickets and finally made 370 runs in their first innings with Chris Broad making 86, Alan Knott getting the side's top score of 107. Knott had the fortune of enjoying a 'life' at 36 and that somewhat helped him to get to his century. Knott's 107 was made in 267 minutes and had a six and ten fours.

The match was destined to end in a draw after England passed the follow-on mark of 292 runs. Alan Knott (107) and Richard Ellison (41) put on 87 runs in 115 minutes for the 6th wicket that sealed the fate of the match to a draw. Earlier England skipper David Gower made 55. England's opener Chris Broad had 'two lives' at 35 and 47 and he went on to make 86.

Sri Lanka's pacemen Ashantha de Mel (4 for 110) and Vinodhan John (4 for 98) shared the wickets. Sri Lanka's wicket-keeper Amal Silva held three catches and that helped the bowlers a great deal on the field.

Sri Lanka made 294 runs in their second innings and Amal Silva made 102 and skipper Duleep Mendis got 94.

For England, it was Ian Botham who did the damage and he captured 6 for 90.

Sri Lanka 1st Innings Sidath Wettimuny c Downton b Allott 190 Amal Silva lbw b Botham 8 Ranjan Madugalle b Ellison 5 Roy Dias c Lamb b Pocock 32 Arjuna Ranatunga b Agnew 84 Duleep Mendis c Fowler b Pocock 111 Aravinda de Silva c Downton b Agnew 16 Ashantha de Mel not out 20 J. R. Ratnayake not out 5 Extras: (2 B, 8 LB, 2 W, 8 NB) 20 Total: (for 7 wickets dec) 491 Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-43, 3-144, 4-292, 5-292, 6-442, 7-464. Bowling: Jonathan Agnew 30-3-123-2, Ian Botham 29-1-114-1, Richard Ellisen 28-6-70-1, Pat Pocock 41-17-75-2, Paul Allott 36-1-89-1.

England 1st Innings Graeme Fowler c Madugalle b John 25 Chris Broad c Amal Silva b De Mel 86 Chris Tavare c Ranatunga b D. S. de Silva 14 David Gower c Amal Silva b De Mel 55 Alan Knott lbw John 107 Ian Botham c Von Hagt (sub) John 6 Richard Ellison c Ratnayake b D. S. de Silva 41 Paul Downton c Dias b De Mel 10 Paul Allott b De Mel 0 Pat Pocock c Amal Silva b John 2 Jonathan Agnew not out 1 Extras: (5 B, 7 LB, 5 W, 6 NB) 23 Total: 370 Fall in wickets: 49 (Fowler), 105 (Tavare), 190 (Broad), 210 (Gower), 218 (Botham), 305 (Ellison), 354 (Downton), 354 (Allott), 369 (Lamb), 370 (Pocock). Bowling: Ashantha de Mel 37-10-110-4, Vinodhan John 19.1-12-98-4, Ravi Ratnayake 22-5-50-0, D. S. de Silva 45-16-85-2, Arjuna Ranatunga 1-1-0-0, Ranjan Madugalle 3-0-4-0.

Sri Lanka 2nd Innings Sidath Wettimuny c Gower b Botham 13 Amal Silva not out 102 Ranjan Madugalle b Botham 3 Roy Dias lbw b botham 38 Arjuna Ranatunga lbw b Botham 0 Aravinda de Silva c Downton b Pocock 3 Duleep Mendis c Fowler b Botham 94 Ashantha de Mel c Ellison b Botham 14 Ravi Ratnayake not out 7 Extras: 20 Total: (for 7 wkts) 294 Fall of wickets: 19 (Wettimuny), 27 (Madugalle), 111 (Dias), 115 (Ranatunga), 118 (Aravinda de Silva), 256 (Mendis), 276 (De Mel). Bowling: Jonathan Agnew 11-3-54-0, Paul Allott 1-0-2-0, Ian Botham 27-6-90-6, Pat Pocock 29-10-78-1, Richard Elluson 7-0-36-0, Alan Lamb 1-0-6-0, Chris Tavare 3-3-0-0, Graeme Fowler 1-0-8-0.