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A gentle end to the summer Wisden CricInfo staff - May 29, 2002
As Sri Lanka arrive at Edgbaston for the second Test against England, we delve into the Wisden Almanack archive to pick out a memorable encounter between the sides. Here we go back to Lord's 1991, on Sri Lanka's third tour of England as a full Test nation This was a gentle, but enjoyable, end to a frenetic summer. For the last time in a Test against Sri Lanka, England were comfortably the stronger side. They had just emerged from a bruising 2-2 draw with the touring West Indians, and they were never remotely threatened by their enthusiastic but limited opponents. Graham Gooch, who had opened the English summer with the one of the greatest Test centuries of all time – 154 not out against the West Indies at Headingley – finished with one of his quirkiest. His 174 in the second innings was laced with some magisterial strokeplay – and some unedifying cow-shots, including a couple of full-blooded reverse-pulls. Alec Stewart registered his maiden Test century, and Phil DeFreitas his Test-best figures of 7 for 70, but it was an unhappy match for the 21-year-old Mark Ramprakash. Time and again in his debut series against West Indies, Ramprakash had reached the 20s without going on, but now, with the pressure off, he succumbed to a fifth-ball duck. For Sri Lanka, the undoubted star of the match was their seam-bowling allrounder Rumesh Ratnayake, who picked up 5 for 69 in England's first innings, before smacking a rapid 52 from No.8 in Sri Lanka's reply.
Almanack report Andrew Miller is editorial assistant of Wisden.com.
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd |
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