Lack of solid batting by Sri Lanka gives Aussies win

Sri Lanka's first Test at the Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy with Australia turned out to be a disaster in the clash on April 22 to 26 in 1983. Duleep Mendis was Sri Lanka's captain and Greg Chappell led Australia.

Prior to the Test match ,Sri Lanka had beaten Australia in two limited overs matches and there was tremendous interest for the Test match. However, it turned out to be a miserable one for the Lankans. Sri Lanka had included two right arm leg spinners D.S..de Silva and debutant Sanjeeva Weerasinghe just out from Isipathana College in their final squad.

Australia had five left handers , the entire top order, to combat the the leg spin which invariably becomes an off break for the left- handed batsmen.

On a responsive wicket the Aussie spinners Bruce Yardley and Tom Hogan bowled well in comparison to the Lankan spinners D.S.de Silva and Sanjeeva Weerasinghe.

Greg Chappell won the toss and decided to bat first and piled up an imposing 514 for 4 wickets declared.

Sidath Wettimunt shows the way. Sri Lanka were all out for 271 with skipper Duleep Mendis making 74 and Arjuna Ranatunga 90 , but it was insufficient against the massive score of the Australians.

Sent in for the follow on Sri Lanka made 205 in their second innings with only opener Sidath Wettimuny striking an impressive 96 to give him some morale support with Arjuna Ranatunga making an useful 32 and lower down the order Ravi Ratnayake getting 30.

So, the writing was on the wall that Sri Lanka would have to surrender this match.

When Australia batted first they made batting somewhat an easy exercise with Keppler stroking 141, Graham Yallop compiling 98. Yallop had some experience of Sri Lankan wickets having come here with the Australia Under 19 schools team in 1971. The late David Hookes scored his maiden Test hundred (143) and achieved the rare distinction of scoring a hundred in a session. Alan Border made 47 not out at which stage Greg Chappell declared the innings. Arjuna- Duleep defied Australian attack.

Besides Arjuna Ranatunga who defiedthe Aussie attack to make 90 and well supported by skipper DuleepMendis (74) the rest failed as Sri Lanka were all out for 271andwere forced to follow on 243 runs behind.

Come the follow -on and SidathWettimuny played a fighting innings and made amends for hisfailure ( no score) in the first innings. Sidath Wettimuny made 96, But things didn't turn out to be rosy for the Sri Lankans. After being in a fairly satisfying position of 120 for 3 wickets, the Lankans collapsed for 205 in their second innings to hand over the

The then Western Australia's spinners Tom Hogan ( 5 for 66) did the damage in the second innings of Sri Lanka while earlier on , it was Bruce Yardley ( 5 for 88) who caused the downfall of the Sri Lankans in the first innings for 271. Sri Lanka were all out for 205 in the second innings.

Sidath, a fighting 96 in the second innings.

Yallop's contributed a useful 98.

Kepler Wessells 141 for Australia.

Hooks, maiden Test hundred, 143. He scored his century in one session between lunch and tea.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS 
K.C. Wessels c Dias b De Silva 		       141
G.M. Wood c Ratnayake b Ranatunga 	  	04
G.M. Yallop lbw b De Mel 	 		98	
G.S. Chappell lbw b De Mel 	 		66
D.W. Hookes not out 			       143 
A.R. Border not out 	 			47 
EXTRAS (lb 11, w 1, nb 3) 	 		15
TOTAL (for 4 wkts dec)			       514 

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-43, 2-213, 3-290, 4-359. 
DID NOT BAT: R.D. Woollay, T. Hogan, B. Yardley
	     D.K. Lillee, R.M. Hogg
BOWLING:  A.F. De Mel 23-3-113-2
	  R.J. Ratnayake 28-4-108-0
	  A. Ranatunga 19-2-72-1
	  D.S. De Silva 44-7-122-1
	  R. Gunaratne 17-1-84-0

SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS 
S. Wettimuny c Woollay b Lillee 	  	00
S. Fernando c Woolley b Hogg 	  		00
R.L. Dias c Border b Lillee 	  		04
L.R.D. Mendis c Hookes b Yardley 	 	74
R.S. Madugalle c and b Yardley 	  		09
A. Ranatunga c Lillee b Yardley 	 	90
D.S. de Silva c Hogan b Yardley 	 	26 
A.F. De Mel c Hookes b Hogan 	 		29
G. de Alwis c Border b Yardley 	  		03
R.J. Ratnayake c Woolley b Border 	 	14
R. Gunaratne not out 	  			00
EXTRAS (b 7, lb 5, w 1, nb 9) 	 		22
TOTAL 					       271 

FALL OF WICKETS:  1-1, 2-5, 3-9, 4-46, 5-142, 6-220
		  7-224, 8-247, 9-270
BOWLING: D. Lillee 19-3-67-2
	 R. Hogg 12-4-31-1
	 G. Chappell 1-0-2-1
	 B. Yardley 25-7-88-5
	 T. Hogan 11-1-50-1
	 A. Border 4.5-0-11-1

SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS 
S. Wettimuny b Hogan	 			96
S. Fernando c Woolley b Lillee	  		03
R.L. Dias b Hogan	 			10
R.J. Ratnayake run out 	 			30
L.R.D. Mendis c Border b Yardley	  	06
R.S. Madugalle b Yardley	  		00
A. Ranatunga b Hogan	 			32  
D.S. de Silva c Woolley b Hogan	  		05 
A.F. De Mel c Yallop b Hogan	  		00
G. de Alwis run out	  			09
R. Gunaratne not out 	  			00
EXTRAS (b 6, lb 7, nb 1) 	 		14
TOTAL 					       205 

FALL OF WICKETS:  1-17, 2-59, 3-120, 4-151, 5-155
		  6-155, 7-162, 8-164, 9-191
BOWLING: D. Lillee 11-3-40-1
	 R. Hogg 3-2-7-0
	 B. Yardley 26-6-78-2
	 T. Hogan 25.2-6-66-5