They’ve been playing Test cricket since 1981, but when it comes to red-ball contests against Australia, Sri Lanka have predominantly found themselves on the receiving end.
Test matches between these two nations have historically seen Australia bludgeoning Sri Lanka into oblivion, even when Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara and Aravinda De Silva were at the peak of their powers.
Especially in Australia, Sri Lanka are yet to win a match against them despite having been a Test cricket nation for over 40 years.
These repeated thrashings were dispersed with sporadic success in the 80s and 90s, however the turn of the century saw Sri Lanka somewhat come to terms with playing Australia in Test cricket.
Red-ball cricket between these two teams suddenly became more competitive and has produced some memorable matches that are certainly worth an honourable mention. Here are my top five best Test matches between Australia and Sri Lanka.
4. August 1992 – 1st Test Match – Colombo – Australia win by 16 runs
Arguably one of the most exhilarating and dramatic Test matches ever played between these two nations.
This match was a real opportunity for Sri Lanka to secure their first ever Test victory over Australia except for a chubby, blonde-haired legspinner who spoiled proceedings for the home team and singlehandedly plucked a win for his side out of nowhere.
To this day, Allan Border still calls this win “the greatest heist since the Great Train Robbery” and rightly so, because Sri Lanka dominated all five days of this game and still lost inside a session.
After winning the toss and electing to field, Sri Lanka’s young seam attack bulldozed Australia’s batting line-up.
The visitors were teetering at eight for 162 before a stubborn Healy battled hard for a gritty 66 not-out that resurrected Australia to 256.
In reply Sri Lanka were merciless, scoring at frenetic pace with Asanka Gurusinghe, Arjuna Ranatunga and Romesh Kaluwitharana all scoring massive hundreds as the home team notched up a mammoth 547 declared in their first innings.
It was also the first time they had achieved such a feat against Australia in Test cricket.
Australia battled hard in their second innings, being bowled out for 471 despite none of the visitors scoring a century. With a victory target of just 181 required in the fourth innings, the jubilant Sri Lankans were now confident that a historic maiden Test victory against Australia was in their sights, and it should have been.
Although they wobbled slightly, at five for 133 needing less than 50 runs to win, many would have assumed that Sri Lanka would have coasted towards victory. Even Australia appeared to have mentally clocked out, their body language depicting the signs of a defeated cricketer.
But not Allan Border. In the final session of day five, he spontaneously threw the ball to a young Shane Warne, who back then had Test match bowling average of over 300 and was a mere shadow of the champion cricketer he would eventually become.
Even in this match, Warne had been smashed all over the park by the Sri Lankans in their first innings, conceding 107 runs off his 22 overs at an abysmal 4.86 runs per over. Hardly the hero you need in such a delicate, do-or-die situation for the Aussies.
And yet, Border’s sudden, inspirational decision to allow Warne to bowl proved to be a masterstroke. The legspinner completely turned the match on its head and claimed Sri Lanka’s last three wickets without conceding a run! Australia got out of jail and ended up famously winning the match by just 16 runs, a result no one saw coming.
Whilst many believe that the emergence of Shane Warne began with his famous ‘ball of the century’ to Mike Gatting in the 1993 Ashes, this heist against Sri Lanka in 1992 should have rightly been anointed as the first sign of the greatness that was to come.
