Category Archives: Lords cricket ground
Sri Lanka’s First Test Encounter at Lords, 23-28 August 1984, on Video
Lords 1984 …………. Not many had TV at the time, so these clips are memorable !
Sidath Wettimuny scored 190 impeccable runs
Duleep Menids batting in the 1980s Continue reading
Across Generations: Sri Lanka’s Dream Team from County Cricket across the Ages
Bill Ricquier, courtesy of The Island, where it is entitled “The Sri Lankan Masters“
English county cricket owes a huge debt to its overseas players. Particularly since the qualification rules were liberalised in 1968, county supporters have been able to watch the world’s greatest cricketers plying their trade on a daily basis. In that first year, Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Farokh Engineer, Majid Khan, Barry Richards and Mike Procter were among the stars to adorn the domestic game. And they were often as loyal as any local boy. It was length of service as much as talent that led to Gloucestershire becoming known as Proctershire: after him Courtney Walsh stayed there for many years. Continue reading
Baila Cricket at Lords, August 1984
Janaka Malwatta, courtesy of ESPNcricinfo, where the title is different and where you will find comments from Sri Lankan bloggers
August 1984. That rarest of beasts, a hot English summer. Grandmaster Melle Mel’s “White Lines”, the soundtrack of that summer, brought a new music, hip-hop, to the streets. I was 16 years old, on the brink of adulthood, and wherever I looked, change was in the air. Eclipsing all else was the momentous event about to unfurl at Lord’s; Sri Lanka’s first official Test in England. On a hazy Thursday morning, I joined a throng of Sri Lankan supporters at the Grace Gates. It felt as if every Sri Lankan I knew was at the match. Aunties carried foil packets crammed with patties and vadai, uncles sneaked off to the bars as soon as they opened. It had been a long wait for Test status. The Sri Lankans had come to enjoy themselves.
Sidath Wettimuny
For the England cricket team, playing a match against a fledgling Test country at the fag end of the summer was probably the last thing they wanted to do. David Gower’s team had been battered in every sense by Clive Lloyd’s West Indians in five brutal Test matches. At The Oval, scene of the final denouement, placards proclaimed the “blackwash”. Perhaps Gower was simply weary when he invited Sri Lanka to bat first on a wicket so placid that Ranjan Madugalle remarked, “Machang, you could go to sleep on this”, shortly before he was bowled. Continue reading