Date-stamped : 03 Nov93 - 05:53 Pre game report: *** Courtesy: Press Trust of India (PTI) *** *** Please display this credit line when quoting *** Rain may have the most say in the opening test match kandy, july 16 (pti): rain may have the most say in kapil dev's record-equalling 125th test, the first hero honda test between india and sri lanka at the asgririya stadium here from tomorrow. the all rounder will equal sunil gavaskar's record of most tests for india. it has poured buckets over the past few days, with particularly heavy spells yesterday and today, to leave pools of water on the pitch covers and the outfield. with the ground authorities not having adequate covers to save the bowlers' run ups from the fury of rain, it will be difficult for play to start on schedule tomorrow. the result has been that neither team has had a decent chance to have 'nets' for two consecutive days and they have consequently deferred announcing their XIs. ajit wadekar, indian cricket manager, however, indicated that the team management would decide on fielding off spinner rajesh chauhan or paceman javagal srinath when the covers are removed from the pitch. the rain has come as a dampener to the cricket enthusiasts in this kandyan capital, though the citizens themselves may not share such opinion. the daily news reported, *there is a saying in kandy that in times of drought, if you want rain, organise a cricket match. the wet spell interspersed with bouts of bright sunshine, has also affected indian hopes of ending a seven- year, 25-test drought of no wins abroad since leeds, headingley in june 1986. on the otherhand, the sri lankans who have whittled down their team to a squad of 15, will also rue the loss of playing time as they are looking to break the run of three successive innings defeats by india when they toured in 1986-87. the teams: india: md azharuddin (captain), sachin tendulkar (vice captain), manoj prabhakar, navjot singh sidhu, vinod kambli, praveen amre, kapil dev, kiran more (wicket keeper), anil kumble, venkatapathi raju, rajesh chauhan and javagal srinath. sri lanka: arjuna ranatunga (captain), roshan mahanama, chandika hathurasinghe, asanka gurusinha, aravinda de silva, hasan tillekeratne, sanat jayasurya, ashley de silva (wicket keeper), champaka ramanayake, duleep liyanage, jayananda warnaweera, muttiah muralitharan, ruwan kalpage, pramodaya wickremasinghe (wicket keeper) and piyal wijetunge. ======= Day 1 17 July 1993 no play in first day of test kandy jul 17 afp: adverse ground conditions prevented play on the first day of the first test between india and sri lanka at the asgiriya stadium here today. umpires k t francis and t m samarasinghe decided 45 minutes before the scheduled tea interval to call off play as the run-up area was affected by overnight rains. *the wicket and outfield is fine. but the run-up is still soft and it is difficult for the bowler to get a proper foothold,* said umpire samarasinghe. there was no play in the morning session as ground staff began mopping up a wet outfield and preparing a damp wicket before handing it over to the umpires for inspection. drizzle continued from time to time as hundreds of spectators waited in vain for the commencement of play amid unprecedented security by heavily armed police. intermittent rains in this central city in the past two days had made the outfield soggy but ground staff had managed to drain out the water by noon today. =========== no play on 1st day of 1st test due to soggy ground conditions from a pti correspondent kandy jul 17 pti: the game efforts by the groundstaff at the asgiriya stadium went in vain when the umpires decided that no play would be possible due to soft run-ups on the opening day of the first cricket test match between india and sri lanka here today. curator bertie wickremaratne led a band of dedicated workers in getting the ground back to shape after it had taken a beating from the rain of the past few days but umpires k t francis and t m samarasinghe decided that the bowlers' run-ups were too soft for the play to begin today. backed by spells of bright sunshine this morning the groundstaff rolled the bald track and the outfield but since there had been inadequate covers on the bowlers' run-ups at both ends, there was very little they could do about it. the occasional passing shower did not dampen the spirit of the workers, who included women in charge of the roller on the pitch, but forced them to bring the covers onto the wicket all over again. more pti cor jj jr after hours of hard work, wickremaratne was able to hand over the ground to the umpires around 1 pm the two officials ordered some more repair work and went on ispection visit at 2.15 pm before calling off play for the day. the two teams neither of whom was keen to bat first on what seemed a moist wicket, preferred to take no risks and indicated accordingly, though a crowd of a few thousand had patiently waited for a good word from the umpires. there was some talk of the possibility of play on the rest day (scheduled for tuesday) but both captains waited for the other to make the first move on this subject. the umpire said the playing conditions were silent about play on the rest day, adding they would only be happy to stand if both skippers agreed to waive the rest day. the sri lankan president d.b. vijetunge, who was to inaugurate the match today, called off his trip to kandy from colombo with no possibility of play. he has reportedly been told that play would start tomorrow provided of course, there is no more rain tonight. Contributed by The Management (anon@*.ernet.in) ======= From AFP : Weather may play decisive role in first test Bad weather threatens the first Test between India and Sri Lanka which begins at the picturesque Asgiriya Stadium here on Saturday. Intermittent rains in the past 48 hours across the region have drastically reduced the limited practice sessions. Indian team manager Ajith Wadekar has already complained about lack of match practice in the run-up to the match. India retain the 12 who played in the home series against England, with the eleventh place likely to go to either off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan or paceman Javagal Srinath. Chauhan, who was left out of the last test against Zimbabwe in March, made up the spin trio that humbled England 3-0 earlier in the year. The 26 year-old Chauhan, leg-spinner Anil Kumble and left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju are expected to spearhead India's quest to win their first overseas test since beating England at Headingley in 1986. Kumble has been the most impressive with 47 wickets in the last eight tests while Raju's eight wickets helped set up India's innings win over Sri Lanka when the two last met in the one-off test in Chandigarh in 1990. ======= From Reuter : INDIA EXPECTED TO PLAY ALL THREE SPINNERS India are expected to play all three spinners in an effort to exploit a rain-affected pitch in the first test against Sri Lanka starting on Saturday. Persistent rain over the past two days may delay the start of the match and India are likely to pick off- spinner Rajesh Chauhan, left-arm spinner Venkatpathy Raju and leg-spinner Anil Kumble in the hope of exploiting a drying pitch. Pace bowler Kapil Dev is banking on the three-test series yielding the 12 wickets he needs to break New Zealander Richard Hadlee's world test record of 431 wickets. Sri Lanka have named a 15-strong squad, including two newcomers in off-spinner Ruwan Kalpage and left-arm spinner Piyal Wijetunga. The Sri Lankans believe they have done enough to show they should be taken seriously in international cricket. and England, they know what victory means,'' said manager Duleep Mendis. Thanks to Vicky on r.s.c. Contributed by The Management (help@*nodak.edu) Day 2 18 July 1993 Morning report : Damp pitch still delaying start of play IND SL Day 2 - Lunch-time report india wins toss in first test (from a pti correspondent) kandy, july 18 (pti): captain mohammed azharuddin won the toss and put sri lanka to bat on a drying wicket on the second day of the first test at the asgirya stadium here today. india and sri lanka brought in an extra quick bowler each for the rain-affected test. indians decided to play seamer javgal srinath ahead of left-arm spinner venkatapathy raju hoping to capitalise on the heavy conditions prevailing here. on the other hand, sri lanka opted for fast-medium bowler dulip liyanage for batsman sanath jayasuriya, who struck a superb 151 against the touring side for board prsedent's xi at kurunegala. umpires k t francis and t m samarasinghe inspected the pitch twice before deciding the play would be possible only after lunch. the first day's play had been abandoned without a ball being bowled yesterday. Contributed by gvenkat (gvenkat@*ncst.ernet.in) Close of play report: India and Sri Lanka both included an extra pace bowler for the rain-affected first Test which finally began at the Asgiriya Stadium on Sunday. Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and put Sri Lanka in to bat after the two teams took an early lunch on the second day. There was no play in the morning session after the first day was washed out. India brought in Javagal Srinath for left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju while Sri Lanka opted for Dulip Liyanage for batsman Sanath Jayasuriya. Both India and Sri Lanka go into the match with two specialist fast bowlers and two spinners. India: M. Azharuddin (capt), M.Prabhakar, N. S. Sidhu, V. G. Kambli, S. R. Tendulkar, P. K. Amre, K. Dev, K. S. More (wicket-keeper), A. Kumble, R. K. Chauhan, J. Srinath Sri Lanka: A. Ranatunga (capt), R. S. Mahanama, U. C. Hathurusinghe, A. P. Gurusinha, P. A. de Silva, H. P. Tillekeratne, A. de Silva, C. P. Ramanayake, K. P. J. Warnaweera, D. Liyanage, M. Muralitharan Pace bowlers Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar captured three quick wickets as Sri Lanka struggled on a wet wicket. Sri Lanka were 24 for three when rain stopped play just over an hour before tea, with skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and Asanka Gurusinha managing to keep their wickets intact against a lively Indian attack. Tea was taken with no sign of an early resumption in the final session of play. Dev, who needs just 12 wickets to break the world bowling record of 431 test wickets, struck in his very first over by having opener Roshan Mahanama caught by wicket-keeper Kiran More for a duck. Prabhakar then snapped up the wickets of the other opener Hathurusinghe and Aravinda de Silva -- both held by Anil Kumble at gully -- in two overs to leave the home side tottering at eight for three. Sri Lanka would have been in a worse position had Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin at second slip scooped up a catch from his counterpart Ranatunga in Prabhakar's fourth over. Ranatunga, who had not opened his scoring when he was dropped, was on seven and Gurusinha remained unbeaten on 10 when a light shower stopped play just 50 minutes after the test match finally got under way. There was no play in the morning session due to a wet wicket. The first day was also washed out. (Thanks to vasa) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com) Day 3 19 Jul 1993 Ind SL T1 D3: sport india delay sri lanka-india test hit by rain kandy jul 19 : play on the third day of the rain-affected test between sri lanka and india is unlikely to start before tea today after heavy overnight rain, officials said. only 50 minutes of play has been possible so far in the past two days due to soggy ground conditions caused by occasional showers and little sunshine to dry the ground. in the 50 minutes of play possible yesterday, sri lanka slumped to 24 for three with indian veteran paceman kapil dev prising out sri lankan opener roshan mahanama with his fifth ball of the innings. kapil dev needs just another 11 wickets to become the world's leading wicket-taker in test cricket. *********************************************** kandy, (sport india delay): play on the third day of the rain-affected test between sri lanka and india is unlikely to start before tea today after heavy overnight rain, officials said. (del19) *********************************************** Contributed by jayakris (jayakris@*ernet.in) Day 4 21 Jul 1993 Sri Lanka board slammed for Test wash-out Sri Lanka's cricket board has been slammed for programming the washed-out first Test against India at a time of year when Kandy is invariably drenched by rain. A fresh downpour on Wednesday morning saw the fourth day of the Test wiped out. The two teams have managed only 50 minutes play so far at the soggy Asgiriya Stadium and the match is destined to be abandoned as a draw on Thursday. Local cricket officials said they had advised the board that rain hits the hill city during this period every year. "We were given the match and the dates. This type of wea- ther at this time is well known here," said Asgiriya curator Bertie Wijesingha. The Island newspaper joined in the recriminations. "Obvi- ously the cricket board has acted with no consideration for their (spectators') feelings by scheduling a match in Kandy during the rainy season," an editorial said. "The million dollar question is who should be blamed. Cer- tainly, not the weather." But Board secretary Neil Perera insists he is not respon- sible for the damp squib of a match. "I personally studied the rainfall in Kandy for the past five years and found that this period was the least affected by rains," he claimed. (Courtsey:AFP, Thanks to Vicky on r.s.c.) ============== Rain has again prevented any play in the First Test at Kandy as officials came under fire for choosing the wet venue. Only 50 minutes of play has been possible between Sri Lanka and India in four days with the home side on 24-3. The Island newspaper said cricket authorities should not have staged a Test at Kandy in a rainy month. The only interest left in the match is how many wickets Kapil Dev takes as he needs just 11 to become the world's leading Test wicket taker. Contributed by The Management (help@*nodak.edu) Day 5 22 Jul 1993 The first test between India and Sri Lanka was abandoned on the fifth day after there was no possibility of play due to rain. The Sri Lankan board came under attack by local newspapers for staging a test match at Kandy in the middle of the rainy season. It the five days of the test match only 50 mins play was possible in which SL scored 24/3. Kapil Dev taking one wicket and Prab- haker taking the other two. Kapil Dev need only 11 more wickets to become the highest wicket taker in the world surpassing Sir Richard Headlee's tally of 431 test wickets. Posted on rec.sport.cricket by Umesh Vaghela Contributed by The Management (help@*nodak.edu)