Sri Lanka in the 1983 Cricket World Cup (Part 1)

The 3rd Cricket World Cup championship was played in the year 1983. In this year, there were two groups of four countries. Sri Lanka was in Group A along with New Zealand, Pakistan and England. This was the first instance of the Cricket World Cup when each team played 2 group matches against the remaining three countries in the group. This tournament was won by India.

Group match against Pakistan

Sri Lanka played its first group match on 9th June 1983 and the opponent was Pakistan. The venue of this match was St. Helen’s, Swansea in Wales. The umpires were David Shepherd and Ken Palmer. Pakistan batted first and made an impressive total of 338 for the loss of 5 wickets in 60 overs. The top scorer was Zaheer Abbas who hit 82 runs in 81 deliveries. Ashantha de Mel took 2 wickets in 12 overs while conceding 69 runs. Sri Lanka also showed some grit and managed 288 runs for 9 wickets in 60 overs. Brendon Kuruppu faced 101 deliveries and collected 72 runs. Sarfraz Nawaz bowled 12 overs, gave away 40 runs and made 3 dismissals. Pakistan won this match by 50 runs.

Group match against England

The second group match of Sri Lanka in the 1983 Cricket World Cup was against England on 11th June 1983 at County Ground, Taunton. The umpires were Ken Palmer and Mervyn Kitchen. England batted for the total quota of 60 overs and amassed 333 runs for 9 wickets. David Gower hit an impressive knock of 130 in 120 deliveries. Ashantha de Mel finished with figures of 2 for 62 in 12 overs. In reply, Sri Lanka was bowled out for 286 in 58 overs. 5 wickets were taken by Vic Marks in 12 overs, while conceding 39 runs. For Sri Lanka, the maximum runs were scored by Guy de Alwis who made 58 in 51 balls. Gower was chosen as the Man of the Match. England won this match by 47 runs.

Group match against New Zealand

At County Ground, Bristol on 13th June 1983, Sri Lanka played its third group match and the opponent was New Zealand. David Shepherd and Dickie Bird were the umpires for this match. Due to the efficient bowling of Richard Hadlee, who bowled 10.1 overs and returned with figures of 5 for 25, Sri Lanka were restricted to 206 in 56.1 overs. The lone battler was Ranjan Madugalle who made 60 in 87 balls. New Zealand cruised to 209 for 5 in 39.2 overs. Geoff Howarth faced 79 deliveries and gathered 76 runs. Ashantha de Mel again took 2 wickets in 8 overs, in which 30 runs were scored. Richard Hadlee was selected as the Man of the Match. New Zealand won this match by 5 wickets.

In the initial three group matches, Sri Lanka could not collect a single point.