# Sri Lankan cricket team in England in 1998

The Sri Lanka national cricket team toured England in the 1998 season. On the tour they played 4 first-class matches, 5 List A matches and a single Test match. They also competed in a tri-series tournament against England and South Africa, entitled the Emirates 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.

## Tour matches
### List A: Hampshire v Sri Lankans

The limited overs match against Hampshire, to be played at County Ground, Southampton on 12 July, was abandoned without a ball bowled. It did not have List A status.

### First-class: Somerset v Sri Lankans

* 14–16 July Scorecard
* Match drawn County Ground, Taunton Umpires: Barry Dudleston (Eng) and Roy Palmer (Eng)
* Somerset won the toss and elected to bat.

### First-class: Glamorgan v Sri Lankans

* 18–20 July Scorecard
* Glamorgan won by 5 wickets Sophia Gardens, Cardiff Umpires: Mervyn Kitchen (Eng) and Peter Willey (Eng)
* Sri Lankans won the toss and elected to bat.

### First-class: Leicestershire v Sri Lankans

* 24–27 July Scorecard
* Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets Grace Road, Leicester Umpires: Nigel Plews (Eng) and John Steele (Eng)
* Leicestershire won the toss and elected to bat.

### List A: Worcestershire v Sri Lankans

* 28 July Scorecard
| Worcestershire 279/6 (50 overs) | v | Sri Lankans 281/3 (47.2 overs) |
| Graeme Hick 111 Kumar Dharmasena 2/46 (10 overs) | | Marvan Atapattu 68 Phil Newport 2/33 (10 overs) |
* Sri Lankans won by 7 wickets New Road, Worcester Umpires: Kevin Lyons (Eng) and Alan Whitehead (Eng)
* Worcestershire won the toss and elected to bat.

### First-class: Middlesex v Sri Lankans

* 31 July – 3 August Scorecard
* Match drawn Lord's, London Umpires: Paul Adams (Eng) and Barrie Leadbeater (Eng)
* Sri Lankans won the toss and elected to field.
* No play on day 4.

### 50-over: England Cricket Board XI v Sri Lankans

* 5 August Scorecard
| England Cricket Board XI 141/9 (50 overs) | v | Sri Lankans 144/2 (28.1 overs) |
| Stephen Foster 32 Aravinda de Silva 3/12 (10 overs) | | Aravinda de Silva 53* Stephen Foster 1/24 (6 overs) |
* Sri Lankans won by 8 wickets County Ground, Lakenham Umpires: Trevor Jesty (Eng) and Ray Julian (Eng)
* Sri Lankans won the toss and elected to field.
This match did not have List A status.

### List A: Northamptonshire v Sri Lankans

* 7 August Scorecard
| Northamptonshire 227/5 (50 overs) | v | Sri Lankans 231/9 (47.5 overs) |
| David Sales 91* (107) Kumar Dharmasena 2/27 (10 overs) | | Arjuna Ranatunga 69 (72) Tony Penberthy 2/26 (4 overs) |
* Sri Lankans won by 1 wicket County Ground, Northampton Umpires: David Constant (Eng) and Ken Shuttleworth (Eng)
* Sri Lankans won the toss and elected to field.

### List A: Northamptonshire v Sri Lankans

* 9 August Scorecard
| Sri Lankans 308/6 (50 overs) | v | Northamptonshire 292 (49.1 overs) |
| Sanath Jayasuriya 119 (116) Paul Taylor 2/50 (10 overs) | | Tony Penberthy 71 (65) Pramodya Wickramasinghe 3/42 (7 overs) |
* Sri Lankans won by 16 runs County Ground, Northampton Umpires: Jeremy Lloyds (Eng) and David Shepherd (Eng)
* Toss not known.

### List A: Kent v Sri Lankans

* 11 August Scorecard
| Kent 176/8 (45 overs) | v | Sri Lankans 179/2 (33.4 overs) |
| Mark Ealham 40 Muttiah Muralitharan 2/21 (9 overs) | | Aravinda de Silva 66* Dean Headley 1/14 (7 overs) |
* Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury Umpires: Vanburn Holder (WI) and Trevor Jesty (Eng)
* Kent won the toss and elected to bat.
* Match reduced to 45 overs a side.
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.

### First-class: Hampshire v Sri Lankans

* 22–24 August Scorecard
* Sri Lankans won by 5 wickets County Ground, Southampton Umpires: Chris Balderstone (Eng) and Neil Mallender (Eng)
* No play on day 2 due to rain.
Trailing by 308 runs and having lost their top order, the Sri Lankans decided to declare, with the hope of giving their openers and top order some batting practice. Despite being able to enforce the follow-on, Hampshire instead decided to forfeit their second innings, giving the Sri Lankans a target of 309 runs off the last 89 overs of the final day to win, which they reached following an unbeaten century from Chandika Hathurusingha and 90 from Mahela Jayawardene. Jayawardene went on to claim a place in Sri Lanka's Test squad to face England.

## Emirates Triangular Tournament

Sri Lanka played in a tri-series tournament with South Africa and England. Played in a round-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.

### Group stage

| Pos | Team | P | W | L | NR | T | Points | NRR |
| 1 | England | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +0.220 |
| 2 | Sri Lanka | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | +0.210 |
| 3 | South Africa | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | −0.430 |
| | ENG | SL | SA |
| England | XXX | W 36 runs | L 14 runs |
| Sri Lanka | L 36 runs | XXX | W 57 runs |
| South Africa | W 14 runs | L 57 runs | XXX |

#### Table key

P = Games played W = Games won L = Games lost NR = Games with no result T = Games tied NRR = Net run rate

#### Points system

Won = 2 points Lost = 0 points Tie or No result = 1 point Standard net run rate rules applied.

#### Position deciders

The deciding factors, in order, on table position were:
* Total points
* Head-to-head result
* Net run rate
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.

### Final

* 20 August Scorecard
| England 256/8 (50 overs) | v | Sri Lanka 260/5 (47.1 overs) |
| Nick Knight 94 (136) Muttiah Muralitharan 5/34 (10 overs) | | Marvan Atapattu 132* (151) Darren Gough 2/50 (10 overs) |
* Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets Lord's Cricket Ground, London Umpires: David Constant (Eng) and David Shepherd (Eng) Player of the match: Muttiah Muralitharan (SL)
* England won the toss and elected to bat.

## Test series
### Only Test

* 27–31 August Scorecard
* Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets The Oval, London Umpires: Eddie Nicholls (WI) and David Shepherd (Eng) Player of the match: Muttiah Muralitharan (SL)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
* Steve James (England) made his Test debut.

#### Records

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, against Zimbabwe in 2002 – and was the 8th best bowling in a Test match innings at the time, but has slipped one place to 9th. 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.
John Crawley also claimed a Test career best of 156 not out. The match was the last England Test to be broadcast live by BBC Television in the UK, with Channel 4 and Sky screening the 1999 New Zealand tour of England.