| Sri Lanka cricket team in England in 1998 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 12 July 1998 – 31 August 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | Sri Lanka won the only Test | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player of the series | Muttiah Muralitharan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TheSri Lanka national cricket team touredEngland in the 1998 season. On the tour they played 4first-class matches, 5List A matches and a singleTest match. They also competed in a tri-series tournament against England andSouth Africa, entitled theEmirates Triangular Tournament. They won the competition by defeating England in the final, also beating South Africa in the group stage. They won the only Test, with Muttiah Muralitharan taking a career best 16/220 – the 5th best bowling figures in a match in Test cricket history.[1]
The limited overs match againstHampshire, to be played atCounty Ground, Southampton on 12 July, was abandoned without a ball bowled. It did not have List A status.[2]
This match did not have List A status.
7 August Scorecard |
Northamptonshire 227/5 (50 overs) | v | |
Sri Lankans won by 1 wicket County Ground,Northampton Umpires:David Constant (Eng) andKen Shuttleworth (Eng) |
9 August Scorecard |
v | Northamptonshire 292 (49.1 overs) | |
Sri Lankans won by 16 runs County Ground,Northampton Umpires:Jeremy Lloyds (Eng) andDavid Shepherd (Eng) |
11 August Scorecard |
Kent 176/8 (45 overs) | v | |
Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets St Lawrence Ground,Canterbury Umpires:Vanburn Holder (WI) andTrevor Jesty (Eng) |
The match's length was reduced after initial attempts to start a game had failed, due to problems with the pitch.Sanath Jayasuriya had been hit on the hand four times in the first four overs, and it was agreed that it was too hazardous to play on. Play resumed with 5 overs lost for each side.[3]
22–24 August Scorecard |
v | ||
Innings forfeited |
Sri Lankans won by 5 wickets County Ground,Southampton Umpires:Chris Balderstone (Eng) andNeil Mallender (Eng) |
Trailing by 308 runs and having lost their top order, the Sri Lankans decided to declare, with the hope of giving theiropeners and top order some batting practice. Despite being able to enforce thefollow-on, Hampshire instead decided to forfeit their secondinnings, giving the Sri Lankans a target of 309 runs off the last 89overs of the final day to win, which they reached following an unbeaten century fromChandika Hathurusingha and 90 fromMahela Jayawardene.[4] Jayawardene went on to claim a place in Sri Lanka's Test squad to face England.
Sri Lanka played in a tri-series tournament withSouth Africa andEngland. Played in around-robin format, all three teams played each other once, with the top two teams going through to a head-to-head final to decide the winner.
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P = Games played
W = Games won
L = Games lost
NR = Games withno result
T = Games tied
NRR =Net run rate
Won = 2 points
Lost = 0 points
Tie or No result = 1 point
Standardnet run rate rules applied.
The deciding factors, in order, on table position were:
Because England and Sri Lanka had the best run rates, they were ranked as the top two teams. England beat Sri Lanka and finished top of the group. South Africa's run rate meant they missed out on the final, despite having beaten England, and that a better run rate than Sri Lanka would have put them top of the table.
20 August Scorecard |
v | ||
Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets Lord's Cricket Ground,London Umpires:David Constant (Eng) andDavid Shepherd (Eng) Player of the match:Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) |
27–31 August Scorecard |
v | ||
37/0 (5 overs) Sanath Jayasuriya 24* (17) |
Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets The Oval,London Umpires:Eddie Nicholls (WI) andDavid Shepherd (Eng) Player of the match:Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) |
Muttiah Muralitharan claimed what was, at the time, a career best 9/65 in the second innings – a record he has only bettered on one occasion, againstZimbabwe in 2002 – and was the 8th best bowling in a Test match innings at the time, but has slipped one place to 9th.[6] The 16/220 claimed in the match is the 5th best bowling record in a match, a position it has stood in since the match.[7]
John Crawley also claimed a Test career best of 156 not out.[8] The match was the last England Test to be broadcast live byBBC Television in the UK, withChannel 4 andSky screening the1999 New Zealand tour of England.[9]
