Date-stamped : 27 May95 - 18:23
Sri Lanka in England 1984 - Preview by Marcus Williams

The Sri Lankans, who slipped into the country at the end of  last
week,  open  their third and most significant first-class tour of
England against Nottin- ghamshire tomorrow.  The  high point   of
their  visit,  which  includes matches against seven counties and
Brian Close`s XI in Scarborough, is  the  Test Match  at   Lord`s
starting  on the 23rd August, when all attention in Colombo, Kan-
dy, Galle and elsewhere will be firmly focused on St.John`s Wood,
London.

The two countries met in Sri  Lanka`s  inaugural  Test  match  in
Colombo  in  February 1982, England winning by seven wickets, but
this is their first Test in England. It is also  the  first  time
that  new  Test  match opposition has been entertained in England
since Pakistan`s first visit in 1954.

Preparations for this tour have been kept almost exclusively  in-
doors  by two months of almost continual rain in Colombo, but the
Sri Lankan manager, Neil Chanmugan, said at Lord`s yesterday that
they now have the right combination to tackle England.

As part of their forward planning, the Sri Lankans have  included
in  the  current party three schoolboys, all of whom went on last
winter`s Under 19 tour of Australia. Aravinda de Silva and Marlon
von Hagt are batsmen and Don ("we call him Bradman") Anurasiri is
a  left-arm  spinner.    Amal   Silva  (Wicket-keeper),    Anusha
Samaranayake (medium-pacer) and Mumtaz Yusuf (spinner) are others
new to England.

The side is led by the accomplished stroke-maker  Duleep  Mendis.
Somachandra  de  Silva, an outstanding leg-spinner, has great ex-
perience of English conditions. He played  for Lincolnshire   and
Shropshire  in  the  Minor Counties Championship and failed by 49
runs to achieve the double in 1982 as the professional at Middle-
ton in the Central Lancashire League.

The domestic game in Sri Lanka is largely of one-day and  two-day
variety  and  it is to the limited-overs game that Sri Lanka have
so far shown themselves most suited, beating England,   Pakistan,
Australia and New Zealand.

The manager summed it up nicely, "We have  some  very  attractive
batsmen   ....   sometimes  too  attractive."   There can  be few
doubts, however, that off the field the players will prove excel-
lent ambassadors for their country.

Source :: The Times 24th July 1984.
<END> Contributed by J.R.F.Evans (en92jrfe@exeter.ac.uk)