English cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2000–01
The England cricket team toured Sri Lanka in February and March 2001, playing three Test matches and three One Day Internationals. England won the Test series 2–1, while Sri Lanka took the ODI series 3–0.
Test series
[edit]1st Test
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2nd Test
[edit]7–11 March 2001
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- Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.
- Graeme Hick (Eng) played his 65th and final Test match.[1]
Controversy
[edit]Sri Lanka's B. C. Cooray alongside South Africa's Rudi Koertzen were appointed as standing umpires for the second Test match at Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy.[2] He and Koertzen made fair share of errors during the test match which eventually changed the outcome of the match with England winning the match by a margin of three wickets in a low scoring yet tricky run-chase. Both of them were even escorted safely from the stadium by the security officials due to the tense situation which arose during the course of the match as fans chanted and booed the umpires in the stands criticising their erroneous calls. The match consisted at least 13 clear umpiring mistakes with Cooray playing the majority of his part.[3] The Sri Lankan local fans vent their frustrations in the stands protesting against his umpiring blunders by holding placards and banners mentioning and accusing Cooray of having sold the match to secure a visa to England. The phrases "B.C You Sold This Match. Have Got Your Resident Visa for England" were seen during the fourth day of the match.[4][5]
Cooray took the centre-stage when England were batting in their first innings where he turned down the loud appeals on three occasions when England skipper Nasser Hussain was trapped lbw which was later proven costly as far as Sri Lanka were concerned as Hussain went onto complete a match winning century and in fact Hussain was the beneficiary of Cooray's umpiring.[6][7] He also denied the caught and bowled dismissal claimed by Muttiah Muralitharan when Graeme Hick was batting. On the other hand, Atherton also survived a close lbw call thanks largely due to Cooray. He also made another ridiculous decision by ruling out Sanath Jayasuriya during Sri Lanka's second innings when replays clearly suggested that the ball bowled by Andy Caddick had actually bumped well before it was taken on bounce by slip fielder Graham Thorpe who actually had to dive in order to complete the catch.[8][9] Jayasuriya who was a casualty of Cooray's brain fade umpiring showed dissent at the decision as he hurled his helmet across the boundary line.[10] The continuous flaws in umpiring also increased tensions between the team players of Sri Lanka and England with Kumar Sangakkara at one point losing his cool and involved in an heated verbal exchange with England's Michael Atherton and eventually Sangakkara labelled England as "cheats".
However, it has been pointed out that just as many decisions went against England, including what is widely considered the worst LBW decision in cricket History when Stewart was given out LBW despite the ball pitching two feet out side of leg stump
He also received backlash for his refusal to admit the mistakes he committed during the match. During the post-match presentations, fans of Sri Lanka and England yelled for him to be named Man of the Match. Initial reports by local media revealed that he would be dropped for the third and final test of the series, thus forcing him to a retirement from umpiring. However, the reports were deemed rumours as he was recalled as TV umpire for the third and final test which was confirmed by K. T. Francis who then served as the director of umpiring with the Sri Lanka Cricket.[11] Despite such assurance from Francis, the second Test at Asgiriya turned out to be his last international match as an umpire.[12]
3rd Test
[edit]15–17 March 2001
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- Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.
- Dinuka Hettiarachchi (SL) played his only Test match.
ODI series
[edit]1st ODI
[edit] 23 March 2001
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- England won the toss and elected to bat.
- This was the first ODI played at Dambulla. Michael Vaughan (Eng) made his ODI debut.
2nd ODI
[edit]3rd ODI
[edit] 27 March 2001
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Romesh Kaluwitharana 102* (117)
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- Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
References
[edit]- ^ Smyth, Rob (14 March 2012). "The Spin: Remembering England's remarkable 2001 Test series win in Sri Lanka". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Sri Lanka vs England Scorecard 2000/01 | Cricket Scorecard". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "BC Cooray hangs up the white coat". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "Cricket: Jayasuriya fined as players shame the game | The Guardian | guardian.co.uk". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "Nerves may hold the key". 10 March 2001. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ Halgekar, Chaitanya (31 August 2017). "10 most controversial umpiring decisions of all time". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "Eye on the highs and lows of the Nasser Hussain era". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "BC Cooray's nightmare". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "England play the lottery". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "Cricket Archives : Angry Jayasuriya leaves the ground after shocking umpiring decision". NewsWire. 21 November 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "SL v England: Cooray will umpire". News24. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "Thorpey and Gilo mug Sri Lanka". Cricinfo. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
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