Sri Lanka and the World Cup in 1975: Striking Images

The photographs are reproduced in reverse temporal order.

98508_Oval Demo one -ESPN 1. Tamil demonstrators invade the field during the World Cup match between Australia and Sri Lanka at Lords 11 June 1975  and lie down in protest — Pic from Fazals photostream in http:www.Flickr.com/photos/

Tamil demo LORDs  2. Ground staff seem to have been the first to intervene … before the bobbies were called in (Pic 3). … obviously we were in an era without heavy security within the grounds.

94489-Oval demo 1975 two- ESPN 3. The Sri Lankan players were not worried at all. HSM Pieris is chatting with Rick McCosker on the left while Tony Opatha and Michael Tissera are on the extreme right.

35.Mendis felled 4. Duleep Mendis felled by a Thompson bouncer. Mendis was carried off and did not return to resume his innings. This, as we know, was the era before helmets — Pic from The Prudential Cup Review, ed. by Gordon Ross, p. 19.

36.Lloyd & T'koon at Toss. 5. Captains Clive Lloyd and Anura Tennekoon at the Toss, Manchester, 7 June 1975 —  Pic from The Prudential Cup Review, ed. by Gordon Ross, p. 11.

34.SL team 1975 6. Sri Lankan Squad at the 1975 ICC Tourney and World Cup, 1975: standing left to right = Duleep Mendis, Lalith Kaluperuma, Sunil Wettimuny, Tony Opatha, HSM Pieris, DLS de Silva, DS de Silva, Dennis Chanmugam, Anura Ranasinghe, Bandula Warnapura, Seated left-to-right: David Heyn, Anura Tennekoon, KMT Perera (Manager), Michael Tissera, Ranjit Fernando.

33.SL team and Bus, '75 7. Most of the Lankan players assembled with the bus which took them to Nuwara Eliya for an acclimatization boot camp supervised by Raja Wickremesinghe prior to their departure for England for the two tournaments. David Heyn, Roy Dias and Sarath Fernando and Neil Perera (BCCSL) are standing on the left and Raja Wicks and KMT Perera on the right. Michael Tissera and Sunil Wettimuny are missing because they travelled up by car. Pic from Anura Tennekoon Album

1975 1ST WORLD CUP SRI LANKA TEAM 8. The Sri Lankan squad after a practice match in Colombo. The training squad was larger than those eventually selected.

Standing L/R     Duleep.Mendis,Denis Chanmugam, Lalith Kaluperuma, Tony Opatha, Ajit de  Silva, Jayantha Seneviratne, Anura Ranasinghe,

Seated            DS de Silva, Sunil Wettimuny, Ranjith Fernando, Anura Tennekoon, Michael Tissera, David Heyn, Mevan Pieris. Raja Wickremesinghe

Ground       Sarath Fernando, Ranil Abeynaike

***    ****

4th Match: Sri Lanka v West Indies at Manchester – Jun 7, 1975…… Sri Lanka 86 (37.2/60 ov); West Indies 87/1 (20.4/60 ov) …. West Indies won by 9 wickets (with 236 balls remaining)

7th Match: Australia v Sri Lanka at The Oval – Jun 11, 1975……Australia 328/5 (60/60 ov); Sri Lanka 276/4 (60/60 ov)…… Australia won by 52 runs

12th Match: Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Nottingham – Jun 14, 1975 ….. Pakistan 330/6 (60/60 ov); Sri Lanka 138 (50.1/60 ov) ….. Pakistan won by 192 runs

  ***    ****

Several of these photographs can be found in Michael Roberts, Essaying Cricket. Sri Lanka and Beyond, Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2004 …  372 pages + xvi prelim pp + 60 pages of images. ISBN 955-1266-26-9-0 …. Orders/Enquiries to: vybooks@gmail.com Attn: ASELA …. Web: www.vijithayapa.com

The tale of Sri Lankan Tamil demonstrations is depicted in images in Michael Roberts, Incursions and Excursion sin Sri Lankan Cricket, Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2011 … 176 pp ….  ISBN 978-955–53198-0-5. The images include snaps from Manuka Oval in Canberra, St Georges Ground at Grenada and the Toronto streets around its main cricket theatre.

Prudential World Cup – 7th match, Group B
Australia won by 52 runs
Played at Kennington Oval, London (neutral venue)
11 June 1975 (60-over match)
Australia innings (60 overs maximum) R B 4s 6s SR
RB McCosker b de Silva 73 111 2 0 65.76
A Turner c Mendis b de Silva 101 113 9 1 89.38
IM Chappell* b Kaluperuma 4 7 1 0 57.14
GS Chappell c Opatha b Pieris 50 50 5 1 100.00
KD Walters c Tennekoon b Pieris 59 66 5 0 89.39
JR Thomson not out 9 7 0 0 128.57
RW Marsh not out 9 7 0 0 128.57
Extras (b 1, lb 20, w 1, nb 1) 23
Total (5 wickets; 60 overs) 328 (5.46 runs per over)
Bowling O M R W Econ
ARM Opatha 9 0 32 0 3.55
HSM Pieris 11 0 68 2 6.18
B Warnapura 9 0 40 0 4.44
AN Ranasinghe 7 0 55 0 7.85
DS de Silva 12 3 60 2 5.00
LWS Kaluperuma 12 0 50 1 4.16
Sri Lanka innings (target: 329 runs from 60 overs) R B 4s 6s SR
SRD Wettimuny retired hurt 53 102 7 0 51.96
ER Fernando b Thomson 22 18 4 0 122.22
B Warnapura st †Marsh b Mallett 31 39 5 0 79.48
LRD Mendis retired hurt 32 45 5 0 71.11
APB Tennekoon* b IM Chappell 48 71 6 0 67.60
MH Tissera c Turner b IM Chappell 52 72 7 0 72.22
AN Ranasinghe not out 14 18 3 0 77.77
HSM Pieris not out 0 3 0 0 0.00
Extras (b 6, lb 8, w 8, nb 2) 24
Total (4 wickets; 60 overs) 276 (4.60 runs per over)
Bowling O M R W Econ
DK Lillee 10 0 42 0 4.20
JR Thomson 12 5 22 1 1.83
AA Mallett 12 0 72 1 6.00
KD Walters 6 1 33 0 5.50
MHN Walker 12 1 44 0 3.66
GS Chappell 4 0 25 0 6.25
IM Chappell 4 0 14 2 3.50

Match details


Toss – Sri Lanka, who chose to field
Points – Australia 4, Sri Lanka 0
ODI debut – SRD Wettimuny (Sri Lanka)
Player of the match – A Turner (Australia)
Umpires – WL Budd and AE Fagg

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