1996 Singer World Series

The Singer World Series was a quadrangular ODI cricket tournament held in Sri Lanka from 26 August to 7 September 1996. It featured the national cricket teams of Zimbabwe, Australia, India and the hosts, Sri Lanka. The competition was won by Sri Lanka, which defeated Australia in the final.[1]

Background

The Singer World Series was the first senior cricket tournament to be held in Sri Lanka after the 1996 Cricket World Cup. Security threats due to the Sri Lankan Civil War and potential terrorist attacks from the LTTE had led Australia to refuse to visit Sri Lanka for their scheduled match in the island nation. This time, Australia agreed to participate amidst intensive security arrangements.[1] Following their 1996 World Cup triumph, Sri Lanka had emerged as clear favourites. The Australian team was considered the most serious challenger to their prospects. Zimbabwe's struggling, lacklustre performances did not make them serious contenders. The Indian team had come off a string of successive ODI tournament defeats and a poor showing in their tour of England, which led to the replacement of the team captain Mohammad Azharuddin with his deputy, Sachin Tendulkar. The Singer World Series was to be Tendulkar's first ODI tournament leading the national team.

Squads

 Sri Lanka[2]  Australia[3]  India[4]  Zimbabwe[5]

All three visiting sides had new captains, while Sri Lanka largely retained the team that had won the World Cup under veteran Arjuna Ranatunga's captaincy.[1] Their 14-player squad was largely unchanged from the one that had claimed the World Cup.[2] India had named a 14-player squad under the leadership of Sachin Tendulkar.[4] It featured two debutants: fast-bowler David Johnson and off-spin bowler Sunil Joshi. The squad was being coached by retired Indian pace bowler Madan Lal. Owing to Mark Taylor's back injury, wicket-keeper Ian Healy took over as captain of Australia's 13-player squad for the series, which included the debutants fast-bowler Jason Gillespie, spin bowler Brad Hogg and batsman Darren Lehmann.[3] Zimbabwe's 16-player squad was led by their new captain, Alistair Campbell, who had succeeded Andy Flower.[5]

Points table

The tournament was organised in a round robin format, with each team playing each other once.

Team P W L T NR NRR Points
 Sri Lanka 33000+0.496
 Australia 32100+0.744
 India 31200-0.012
 Zimbabwe 30300-1.170

[6]

Matches

26 August
Scorecard
Australia 
263/7 (50 overs)
v
 Zimbabwe
138 (41 overs)
Steve Waugh 82 (70)
Guy Whittall 3/53 (10 overs)
Ali Shah 41 (76)
Mark Waugh 3/24 (5 overs)
Australia won by 125 runs
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Umpires: K.T. Francis (SL) and Udaya Wickramasinghe (SL)
Player of the match: Steve Waugh (Aus)
  • Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
28 August
Scorecard
India 
226/5 (50 overs)
v
 Sri Lanka
230/1 (44.2 overs)
Sachin Tendulkar 110 (138)
Sanath Jayasuriya 1/39 (10 overs)
Sanath Jayasuriya 120 (128)
Sachin Tendulkar 1/29 (6 overs)
Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) and Cyril Mitchley (SA)
Player of the match: Sanath Jayasuriya (SL)
  • India won the toss and elected to bat.
30 August
Scorecard
Australia 
228/9 (50 overs)
v
 Sri Lanka
232/6 (45.5 overs)
Michael Bevan 56 (78)
Upul Chandana 3/38 (10 overs)
Aravinda de Silva 83 (95)
Damien Fleming 3/26 (8 overs)
Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) and Cyril Mitchley (SA)
Player of the match: Sanath Jayasuriya (SL)
  • Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
1 September
Scorecard
Zimbabwe 
226 (49.4 overs)
v
 India
229/3 (43.5 overs)
Andy Flower 78 (115)
Anil Kumble 4/33 (10 overs)
Ajay Jadeja 68 (80)
Craig Evans 1/19 (5 overs)
India wins by 7 wickets
Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo
Umpires: B. C. Cooray (SL) and T. M. Samarasinghe (SL)
Player of the match: Ajay Jadeja (Ind)
  • India won the toss and elected to field.
3 September
Scorecard
Zimbabwe 
227/5 (50 overs)
v
 Sri Lanka
228/4 (47 overs)
Craig Evans 96 (105)
Ravindra Pushpakumara 2/27 (6 overs)
Aravinda de Silva 123* (127)
Henry Olonga 2/47 (6 overs)
Sri Lanka wins by 4 wickets
Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) and Cyril Mitchley (SA)
Player of the match: Aravinda de Silva (SL)
  • Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
6 September
Scorecard
India 
201 (41 overs)
v
 Australia
202/7 (44.3 overs)
Sourav Ganguly 59 (75)
Glenn McGrath 3/33 (9 overs)
Stuart Law 67 (70)
Sunil Joshi 2/23 (9 overs)
Australia wins by 3 wickets
Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo
Umpires: B.C. Cooray (SL) and K.T. Francis (SL)
Player of the match: Steve Waugh (Aus)
  • Australia won the toss and elected to field.
  • Originally scheduled for 5 September, the match was postponed due to rain. Match reduced to 45 overs maximum per innings on 6 September due to rain.

Final

7 September
Scorecard
Sri Lanka 
234/3 (35 overs)
v
 Australia
184 (33 overs)
Aravinda de Silva 75* (64)
Glenn McGrath 2/35 (7 overs)
Steve Waugh 55 (53)
Upul Chandana 4/35 (6 overs)
Sri Lanka won by 50 runs
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI) and Cyril Mitchley (SA)
Player of the match: Aravinda de Silva (SL)
  • Australia won the toss and elected to field.
  • Match was delayed by two hours due to rain. The match was thus reduced to 35 overs maximum per innings.

Records and awards

Sri Lanka's vice-captain Aravinda de Silva won the player of the series award for amassing 334 runs in just 4 innings without losing his wicket, remaining unbeaten in all of them.[1][7] Sri Lankan spin bowler Upul Chandana and Australian fast-bowler Glenn McGrath both took 7 wickets, but Chandana did so in only 3 matches to McGrath's 4.[8]

References

  1. "Wisden - Singer World Series". Wisden. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  2. "Sri Lankan squad". Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  3. "Australia squad". Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  4. "Indian squad". Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  5. "Zimbabwean squad". Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  6. - Points Table
  7. "Batting Statistics". Cricinfo.com. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  8. "Bowling Statistics". Cricinfo.com. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
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