During the 1970s and 1980s, due to the boycott of South Africa by global sporting bodies, the International Cricket Council blocked any official cricket tours to South Africa. This led to a number of so-called "rebel" tours, where individual players were contracted to tour as part of unofficial representative teams. The first such tour recently took place with an English team touring the country.[1]
Heads of the South African Cricket Union, Ali Bacher and Geoff Dakin, approached Sri Lankan cricketer Tony Opatha in July 1982 to negotiate organising a tour by Sri Lankan players. In September Colin Rushmere, a South African lawyer, flew to Colombo with 14 contracts for the players of a team Opatha had assembled in secret. A month later the Sri Lankan team was touring Zimbabwe and Rushmere visited Harare to confirm the participation of Roy Dias and Duleep Mendis. However both were unable to join the tour team to South Africa as their passports were held by the team manager. When news of the tour broke, the Board of Cricket Control for Sri Lanka (BCCSL) issued 25-year bans to all the tour players. Opatha, who was team manager as well as a player, named the team the 'AROSA Sri Lankan XI'. The 'ARO' standing for the first three initials in his name; Antony Ralph Opatha and the 'SA' standing for South Africa.[1]
Sri Lanka were still an emerging team at the time, having only been granted Test status earlier in 1982, and were not regarded as being in the same league as the South Africans. The tour of a Sri Lankan team, the first ever by a non-white team, was a milestone which showed the world that South Africa (who previously blocked an English team touring in 1968 for containing just one non-white player) was reforming.[1]
The touredit
The tour was a disaster for the AROSA Sri Lankan team, failing to win a single game. They were soundly beaten in all their one-day and "test" matches against the South Africans. Sri Lankan managed only to draw three matches against provincial teams, with the remainder also being defeats.[2] The team was not helped by the absence of stronger performing players like Dias and Mendis and the underperformance of star spin bowler Ajit de Silva who struggled with stress and had a breakdown on tour.[3]
South Africa won by an innings and 100 runs Newlands, Cape Town Umpires: Dudley Schoof and Barry Smith
Toss not known
Aftermathedit
The 14 players were given a 25-year ban, depriving Sri Lankan cricket of a large amount of player talent. Despite earning enough money from the tour to settle down and build houses, most faced social stigma and unemployment afterwards. In 1991 Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa lifted the bans on the players allowing many of the rebels to later hold key positions in cricket administration.[1] One player, Flavian Aponso, did play international cricket again at the 1996 Cricket World Cup for the Netherlands (where he had moved after the rebel tour).[4] The Sri Lankan tour is theorised to have helped pave the way for subsequent rebel tours of players from the West Indies a few years later by demonstrating it possible for a non-white cricket team to tour South Africa safely.[3]
Referencesedit
^ abcdAmaruwan, Dilina (16 January 2019). "Cricket In Cuckoo Land: The Rebel Tour Of Apartheid South Africa". Roar Media. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
^van Dompselaar, Louis. "Arosa Sri Lanka in South Africa: Summary of results". Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
^ abAlfred, Luke (16 January 2019). "When Sri Lanka went to cuckoo land". Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
^"Flavian Aponso". Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
Further readingedit
Peter May, The Rebel Tours: Cricket's Crisis of Conscience, SportsBooks, 2009.
External linksedit
Arosa Sri Lanka tour of South Africa 1982/83 at Cricinfo
January 01, 1970
arosa, lanka, cricket, team, south, africa, 1982, october, 1982, representative, team, lankan, cricket, players, undertook, called, rebel, tour, south, africa, play, series, matches, against, south, african, team, colloquially, called, cuckoo, tour, time, inte. In October 1982 a representative team of Sri Lankan cricket players undertook a so called Rebel tour to South Africa to play a series of matches against the South African team colloquially called the cuckoo tour At the time the International Cricket Council ICC had placed a moratorium on international cricket teams making tours of South Africa due to the nation s government policy of apartheid leaving South Africa with no international competition AROSA Sri Lanka in South Africa in 1982 South AfricaAROSA Sri LankaDates26 October 1982 13 December 1982CaptainsPeter KirstenBandula WarnapuraTest seriesResultSouth Africa won the 2 match series 2 0One Day International seriesResultsSouth Africa won the 4 match series 4 0 Contents 1 Background 2 The tour 3 Aftermath 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External linksBackground editDuring the 1970s and 1980s due to the boycott of South Africa by global sporting bodies the International Cricket Council blocked any official cricket tours to South Africa This led to a number of so called rebel tours where individual players were contracted to tour as part of unofficial representative teams The first such tour recently took place with an English team touring the country 1 Heads of the South African Cricket Union Ali Bacher and Geoff Dakin approached Sri Lankan cricketer Tony Opatha in July 1982 to negotiate organising a tour by Sri Lankan players In September Colin Rushmere a South African lawyer flew to Colombo with 14 contracts for the players of a team Opatha had assembled in secret A month later the Sri Lankan team was touring Zimbabwe and Rushmere visited Harare to confirm the participation of Roy Dias and Duleep Mendis However both were unable to join the tour team to South Africa as their passports were held by the team manager When news of the tour broke the Board of Cricket Control for Sri Lanka BCCSL issued 25 year bans to all the tour players Opatha who was team manager as well as a player named the team the AROSA Sri Lankan XI The ARO standing for the first three initials in his name Antony Ralph Opatha and the SA standing for South Africa 1 Sri Lanka were still an emerging team at the time having only been granted Test status earlier in 1982 and were not regarded as being in the same league as the South Africans The tour of a Sri Lankan team the first ever by a non white team was a milestone which showed the world that South Africa who previously blocked an English team touring in 1968 for containing just one non white player was reforming 1 The tour editThe tour was a disaster for the AROSA Sri Lankan team failing to win a single game They were soundly beaten in all their one day and test matches against the South Africans Sri Lankan managed only to draw three matches against provincial teams with the remainder also being defeats 2 The team was not helped by the absence of stronger performing players like Dias and Mendis and the underperformance of star spin bowler Ajit de Silva who struggled with stress and had a breakdown on tour 3 First ODI 6 November 1982 55 overs match Scorecard South Africa nbsp 291 4 55 overs v nbsp Arosa Sri Lanka102 50 overs Jimmy Cook 120 Anura Ranasinghe 2 46 11 overs Bernard Perera 30 Vintcent van der Bijl 2 9 7 overs South Africa won by 189 runsWanderers Johannesburg Umpires James Peacock and Sydney Moore Toss not known Second ODI 8 November 1982 55 overs match Scorecard South Africa nbsp 281 5 55 overs v nbsp Arosa Sri Lanka174 5 55 overs Jimmy Cook 131 Anura Ranasinghe 2 54 10 overs Nirmal Hettiaratchi 50 Garth Le Roux 2 27 11 overs South Africa won by 107 runsBerea Park Pretoria Umpires Edward Carter and George Hawkins Toss not known Third ODI 17 November 1982 55 overs match Scorecard Arosa Sri Lanka nbsp 140 49 4 overs v nbsp South Africa174 5 55 overs Nirmal Hettiaratchi 32 Vintcent van der Bijl 4 12 8 4 overs Barry Richards 74 Jeryl Woutersz 1 9 5 overs South Africa won by 8 wicketsKingsmead Durban Umpires Denzil Bezuidenhout and Barry Smith Toss not known First Test 19 22 November 1982 4 day match Scorecard Arosa Sri Lanka nbsp v nbsp South Africa 213 72 3 overs Bandula de Silva 70 Garth Le Roux 6 55 18 3 overs 378 106 5 overs Jimmy Cook 169 Lalith Kaluperuma 5 123 45 overs 141 62 1 overs Flavian Aponso 44 Alan Kourie 5 44 22 overs South Africa won by an innings and 24 runsWanderers Johannesburg Umpires Cyril Mitchley and Oswald Schoof Arosa Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat Bandula de Silva retired hurt in the Arosa Sri Lanka second innings having scored 3 team score 8 1 he returned when the score was 49 4 Fourth ODI 1 December 1982 55 overs match Scorecard Arosa Sri Lanka nbsp 276 9 55 overs v nbsp South Africa278 4 52 5 overs Anura Ranasinghe 100 Garth Le Roux 2 57 11 overs Lawrence Seeff 142 Susantha Karunaratne 2 27 8 5 overs South Africa won by 6 wicketsSt George s Park Port Elizabeth Umpires Carl Coetzee and Sandy Matthews Toss not known Second Test 9 13 December 1982 4 day match Scorecard Arosa Sri Lanka nbsp v nbsp South Africa 282 90 5 overs Flavian Aponso 81 Stephen Jefferies 3 43 18 overs 663 6d 159 3 overs Graeme Pollock 197 Bernard Perera 2 154 42 3 overs 281 81 2 overs Bernard Perera 102 Stephen Jefferies 3 76 19 overs South Africa won by an innings and 100 runsNewlands Cape Town Umpires Dudley Schoof and Barry Smith Toss not knownAftermath editThe 14 players were given a 25 year ban depriving Sri Lankan cricket of a large amount of player talent Despite earning enough money from the tour to settle down and build houses most faced social stigma and unemployment afterwards In 1991 Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa lifted the bans on the players allowing many of the rebels to later hold key positions in cricket administration 1 One player Flavian Aponso did play international cricket again at the 1996 Cricket World Cup for the Netherlands where he had moved after the rebel tour 4 The Sri Lankan tour is theorised to have helped pave the way for subsequent rebel tours of players from the West Indies a few years later by demonstrating it possible for a non white cricket team to tour South Africa safely 3 References edit a b c d Amaruwan Dilina 16 January 2019 Cricket In Cuckoo Land The Rebel Tour Of Apartheid South Africa Roar Media Retrieved 5 December 2022 van Dompselaar Louis Arosa Sri Lanka in South Africa Summary of results Cricinfo Retrieved 5 December 2022 a b Alfred Luke 16 January 2019 When Sri Lanka went to cuckoo land Cricinfo Retrieved 5 December 2022 Flavian Aponso Cricinfo Retrieved 5 December 2022 Further reading editPeter May The Rebel Tours Cricket s Crisis of Conscience SportsBooks 2009 External links editArosa Sri Lanka tour of South Africa 1982 83 at Cricinfo Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Arosa Sri Lanka cricket team in South Africa in 1982 83 amp oldid 1203489224, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
